Spiritual Growth

By: Claudene Sebolai

Growth is inevitable. As important as growth is for human development so too is it for spirituality. It is said that Jesus “grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him” (Luke 2:40 NIV). There is so much advice on spiritual growth; however, allow me to share a couple of key things which I believe is foundational and important in our faith walk.

Be in constant fellowship with God. Talk to Him and wait for His response. Yes, God too can talk, and He just loves conversation with His children. Include the Lord in all you do, when you on the mountain and when you in a valley. Do it until it becomes second nature to you.

Read, read, read! Read your Bible, here you will encounter God’s interaction with His creation. You will see how He loves, protects and provides for His people. Start reading small portions and enjoy getting to know your Creator. You’ll find in the Bible everything for every occasion. Of course you can add other Christian literature to your reading list.

Connect to a church family and become a partaker not just a spectator. Your church family can help identify your passion and might have programs to facilitate your growth. Not only that, you study God’s word together and grow spiritually with other believers. Here you will find a support system and do not have to go through life’s journey all by yourself.

Spiritual growth is not an overnight thing; it is a life time journey. King David, well advanced in years, wrote Psalm 23 and still articulates his journey of growth with God. Enjoy your journey and commit to the process and grow in grace.

SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS NOT AN OVERNIGHT THING; IT IS A LIFE TIME JOURNEY.

THE GOOD SAMARITAN:

Mercy Begets Mercy

Demonstrating love through actions has a greater impact than speaking love.

My initial response was, “Why would Jesus use such a story?” because it seemed unrelated to the initial question about eternal life that was posed to him. The story about an assaulted robbery and someone being left for dead seemed far-fetched as well. Jesus portrays God’s servants as uncaring toward the injured man, refusing to reach out to him in his hour of need. The Samaritan man, on the other hand, is motivated by compassion to see this person assisted and healed.

I believe that this story is particularly pertinent as a life lesson. To begin, it is important to study the scriptures; however, it is even more vital to demonstrate love toward broken people in order for them to experience God’s love through God’s disciples. Sometimes showing people how to live through our actions can be more impactful than just being prescriptive and teaching or telling people how to live according to God’s word. Jesus went beyond His call and demonstrated what love should be to the point of death. He is God, He could have just spoken scripture but He demonstrated it as well.

Luke was quite effective in stimulating deeper thought by narrating this parable. Its message probes a person to want to change in the heart. It makes one wonder about why the characters responded the way they did and it makes one think regarding eternal life, which was the initial question. It demands the reader to take a specific position, and I am sure no one wants to see themselves as the characters of the two seemingly heartless religious leaders. Nevertheless, how many times are we not those characters? In this story God’s love for the human race and his constant plan to save those in distress, is clearly evident. As taught by Jesus, mercy begets mercy (Matthew 5:7).

For me, the story's central theme is love. Love for one's neighbor transcends cultural, racial, ethnic, class, and gender boundaries and entails performing acts of kindness for those we believe do not deserve it. Love is what made the Divine take on the guise of a human servant. Love is what compelled Jesus Christ to take up His cross, and die a gruesome death so that we can live a glorious life. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, says Jesus, if you have love one to another. Love is not what we say love is what we do. In John 15:12 Jesus’ instruction is “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” To the Corinthians 16:14 Paul writes, “Do everything in love.” Peter too urges the believers 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. And love is the greatest of them all.”

The Message version of 1 John 4:7-12 states it this way “My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!”

By Felicia Rumble