Articles
What’s the Key?
A young man had been a Christian only a year or so, but had already experienced significant spiritual growth. His mentor told me he believed his remarkable growth was due to reading the Bible every day.
It makes sense. As Peter wrote, “. . . like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation . . .” (1 Peter 2:2 NASB).
God designed the Bible to equip us in all the ways we need equipping (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
We start out with the simpler things of Scripture (the milk), and the next step is to graduate to the more challenging, meatier aspects of God’s word.
Two different books of the New Testament strongly urge slow-to-grow Christians to go beyond the milk to maturity (1 Corinthians 3:1-2; Hebrews 5:14-6:3).
But how does reading the Scriptures help us grow? The more we read, the better we understand how God means for us to live in this world and to prepare for the next.
Of course, it isn’t just reading that does it, but putting what we read into practice. The Bible is a know-and-do book (James 1:21-25). There’s where the real growth comes!
But what are we to grow toward?
Christlikeness has been called “the Ultimate Aim of the Christian Life” (Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, index #382).
Becoming more and more like Christ is a lifelong endeavor, and the Scriptures enable us to shape our thinking and living into conformity with Him (2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 2:5-11).
Want to grow?
