06 May No Quick Fixes

When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, his salvation is instantaneous, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and you are saved for all of eternity. But, here’s the thing: While salvation is instant, growing in our faith is not. Christian maturity does not happen instantly.

Growth is a journey. It’s a process that happens over your entire lifetime and it requires stamina and perseverance. It’s the long runs, the uphill climbs in life, the things that require us to focus in order to do the hard things. It’s what Eugene Peterson calls “a long obedience in the same direction.” So, it’s like a marathon, not a sprint, to becoming mature in our faith.

Christian maturity is to live as a Biblically wise person, and to live with eternity in mind—as our focus (Ephesians 5). This life is not all there is, but while we’re on this earth it’s our job to work the process of becoming mature in our faith. So, how does that happen? Well, it does not happen by accident– it happens when we are personally intentional about it.

Remember there are two parts to this. There’s God’s part (salvation– where he comes in when we respond to his invitation of grace by faith in Jesus Christ) and then there’s our part– to pursue Christ. It’s our part to grow in our faith. It’s an intentional pursuit. We’ve got to decide this is what we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it, and when we’re going to get after it. And don’t forget that the Holy Spirit gives us the power and the “want to” to do it as we continually step out in obedience to God’s Word (see Episode 8).

People who are mature in their faith can be any age, if they’re strong in Truth– because they have it going on with Jesus, they’ve walked with him a while, they know a lot about life and how to live it according to God’s word. That’s what makes a person spiritually mature: not their chronological age, but the fact that they’d taken God’s word into their life, they’d used it, they know it works and how it works, and they know how to help somebody else see that it works, too.

What are your plans for spiritual growth? Tell me in the comments!

I love y’all!
xo – P♥️

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