First of all, I am pretty sure that most Christians know their need to grow in their relationship with God and their knowledge of His word. You also have preachers, such as myself, that always challenge the body of Christ to grow in Him. However, I believe that a big part of the Christian community is not fully convinced on why we all need to grow every day. My goal is to simply answer this question for you guys, and hopefully that inspires you to make a change of focus, habits and decisions starting today. So, why do Christians need to grow every day? Knowing the reason for doing something usually helps inspire and motivate one to pursue that thing with greater intensity. So, knowing our why is vital for our walk!

 

 

 

I have been a Christian for over ten years now and I can honestly say that time does not mature or equip us. In order for us to grow in our relationship with God we must be intentional about the things we spend our time on. Many of us choose to read Christian books, devotionals and of course the Bible. Most of us choose to attend a church where they teach Biblical truths and allow you to get involved with the body of Christ in the community to grow with others. All these things are great and beneficial for us. However, after spending over six years in Bible College earning multiple degrees, being part of church leadership, and speaking with many believers from different denominations and backgrounds, I can confidently say that none of those things do much good for us unless we are intentional about our growth by keeping the main reason we need to change on the top of our minds.

 

 

 

Biblical degrees, church attendance, daily book readings, ministry and all the things that we think mature us, simply do not. What matures us is the rewiring and reprogramming of our minds. In Romans 12:2, Paul taught us (by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) that in order for us to be transformed, we must be renewed in our minds. In fact, Colossians says that the “new you” is renewed in knowledge according to God’s image (Colossians 3:10). This is a big reason why Christians need to grow every day. No matter where we go, what we do, who we know and how long we have been born again, we will not grow, unless we change our way of thinking. Our decisions and behavior will follow the state of our mindset.

 

 

 

A lot of times we think that the need for growth and change that we feel is necessary is due to the need to be busy. Many of us think that our purpose is to have continuous life goals and daily tasks. But staying busy is not the goal or purpose of the believer. We can be caught up in doing things all day long every day, but if we are not busy doing the right things for the right reasons, the real fruit that God has called us to bear as His children, will not be seen. God wants to see fruit in our lives, not just a confession or praise. He wants us to live a type of life that declares to the world that we have His Spirit within and that we belong to Him, and Him alone. When we realize this, it becomes clear that us Christians need to grow every day!

 

 

 

The reason we all need to grow in Christ as believers is because even though our sins have been forgiven and we are now in covenant with God, our minds have been left in the same condition (aside from knowing Christ as Lord and Savior) as they were before we were saved by His grace through faith. When we look at scripture, we see the new identity that we now have as children of God. We see that we have received a new spirit within, His Spirit. We see that one day we will receive a new body and it will be completely different from the body we now have. One day we will have a glorified, celestial, immortal, incorruptible, spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:40-54). Our spiritual identity is different, but we still have the same minds and bodies as we did before getting saved. We can do nothing to renew our bodies, but we can definitely renew our minds now during this life.

 

 

 

Therefore, because our minds are still natural and have the same memories, trauma, habits, acquired experience and knowledge, we are in need of personal growth within our souls. I can be born again, but still be used to thinking about myself all the time, instead of God or others. I can be born again and still have the bad habit of looking at a woman when she walks by because I did that for most of my life. You can be born again but still treasure money and materialistic things like you did when you didn’t even believe in Jesus or the Bible. Being born again did not remove and erase those habits, addictions and carnal ways of thinking. We must put in the work and intentionally overcome those thoughts and old ways of doing things by applying the instruction and wisdom of God, which are found in His word.

 

 

 

The flesh and the Spirit are in total opposition, they are nothing but enemies and will always be enemies until the end of time. The Bible tells us to pull down strongholds and to cast down the imaginations and arguments that contradict God’s ways and will (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). We must change our old way of thinking and allow God to teach us how to think in a completely new way. When the Bible states that we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), it is because we are. We are now children of God called to serve Him and live for Him, not ourselves or for the things of the world. Because we are new creatures with a new purpose, identity and potential, we must learn about our new selves and our new master in order to fulfill our new purpose. God is our new master, it used to be the devil, the world, sin, and even ourselves. The biggest factor that we must overcome is that our sinful flesh will try to get us to disobey our new master (God) by influencing us to still do the things that our old master wants us to do. The only chance we have in resisting the flesh is for us to submit to God. Learning how to submit to God and gaining the mental strength to do so, is the reason why we need to grow every day as Christians.

 

 

 

Every day we will see, hear, think and maybe even feel carnal evil things that will try to pull us into our old ways of doing things. Because of this, we must feed our minds daily with the word of God through mostly the reading of the Bible, but also through reading Christian books and blogs, listening to preaching and other things. Getting knowledge of the word of God into our souls daily will not only help us know it, but it will also keep it fresh on our minds so that we are less likely to forget it when temptation comes. The battlefield of our mind is a big reason why Christians need to grow every day. James 1:14 states “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed”. We must stay stay vigilant against the desires of the flesh, and willfully make our decisions according to what God’s word says to do. This is the only way to walk in the Spirit and live like the new us in Christ.

 

 

 

 So, why do we need to grow every day? Simply, because every day we will face sinful temptations, memories from our past, old habits and all around carnal ideas that contradict God. Living in a fallen world among fallen people and having our same mind which was trained in the ways of the world before we got saved, are good enough reasons for us to take our pursuit of growth seriously every single day! Technology, entertainment, people and our own flesh will take no prisoners when it comes to leading people to sinful things, if we let them. Some things can be avoided by staying away from them, such as music, movies, relationships and attractions that promote and encourage sinful things. However, there are things and people that we will run into regardless of how much we try to stay in our Christian bubble. Even though we are not of the world, we are still in it and we must learn how to resist evil and submit to God by learning and applying God’s truth daily.

 

 

 

Be encouraged today to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness every day! Don’t get tired of doing good, but instead persevere and you will see much good fruit in your life! Never put your guard down thinking that today you will not be tempted or encounter some type of trial that will require you to know God’s word, have faith and deny your carnal desires or thoughts. Let’s grow in Christ today and every day by remembering that from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep we must think according to God and not to our old selves. By doing this, we will overcome!