By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo
Growth is a process (22/6/2021)*
Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…”
Growth is not an event but a process which is progressive. At every step, one is becoming better. To the Christian, this process starts the day they receive Christ as Lord and Savior and goes on throughout their lives. For the Colossian Christians, Paul’s prayer was continuous, that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will through all wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. That would enable them live lives worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way.
As this was happening, they will be bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God. This is continuous and incremental over time. One time you think you really got it. The next time the Spirit teaches you more and you discover you hadn’t known much before. Part of the reason for this is that we may perpetually remain humbly dependent on God and other people. The other is that we can never fully know God.
Progressive growth requires a continuous thirst, hunger, humility and searching after God on our part. The moment you think you have arrived, you stop growing, because you block the Spirit who enables our growth. A tree bears fruit increasingly over the years until full maturity when it bears much fruit. That’s how we are as we grow in the Lord. Let’s cooperate in humilty with an attitude of continuous learning and growth. Continually yearn after Him!
Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Shalom children of God.