Growth

Last updated on July 31, 2020

Steps to increase personal growth.

• • • Recognize personal sin

    • Study

    • Mentoring

    • Serve

Jesus doesn’t want people to wait to accept Him as their Lord and Savior. The proper sequence of things is for a person to hear about Jesus, recognize that they are a sinner, repent of their transgression, and then ask the Lord to be their Savior. That’s all there is to being saved on the user end; Christ did all the work.

As a new Christian, or a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), they are not expected to know it all or have gotten it right. The new Christian probably doesn’t know all their sins except the most basic, those of the 10 commandments; they would know these because God has put it on everyone’s hearts (Romans 2:14). But the expectation is for every Christian to grow in their knowledge of the Bible and of Jesus.

This is a lifelong process for a Christian. I know of no Christian who knows and gets it all. The most educated preacher, the oldest elder, and the most distinguished Christian theologian all continually study and learn the Bible.

When the topic of relationship was discussed earlier, we hit upon what a new Christian should do. The same goes for the more mature as well. The church is among the many resources to help someone on their journey to Christian maturity.

Besides reading the Bible, learning from the teachers and elders, attending Sunday schools and Bible studies as well as small groups are all good ways to increase ones Christian knowledge.

Once a new Christian progresses into the mature they are expected to use this new found wisdom to by mentoring and helping to insure the purity of the message. The same warnings apply as to teachers though, that of misleading people. If you’ve been a Christian for a while, they shouldn’t fall into this trap. And just like before, they are ultimately responsible for their salvation. Even with their more mature Christian training, they are not off the hook with God for being improperly taught.