Nestling Nearer To The Heart Of God

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:18

Making marks on a door frame is one way to measure the physical growth of a child. But how do you measure the spiritual growth of a child of God?

Maturity in the faith cannot be tallied in inches or pounds. Instead, growth in the Christian life takes place in the inner person—”in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Alexander Maclaren provides several “yardsticks” for Christian growth.

WALK WITH ALEXANDER MACLAREN
“If you are a Christian, you ought to be realizing continually a deeper consciousness of Christ’s love and favor as yours. You ought to be nestling every day nearer to his heart, and getting more and more sure of his mercy and love for you.

“And you ought not only to be realizing the fact of his love with increasing certitude, but you ought to be drinking in the consequences of that love and every day deriving more and more of the spiritual gifts of which his hands are full. In him is an inexhaustible store of abundance for each of us.

“There is nothing mystical or removed from the experience of daily life in this exhortation: ‘Grow in … grace.’ It is not growth in some strange experience, but a very plain, practical thing—a daily transformation, with growing completeness, into the likeness of Jesus Christ.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
A young boy looks in the mirror and knows he is growing up. He is growing taller, stronger, wiser. He is developing a striking family resemblance to the one who calls him “son.”

As Jesus grew up, he “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

There are four essential areas of growth: mental, physical, spiritual and social. Every day as you look intently into the mirror of God’s Word, ask yourself what you can do to promote healthy growth in each of those areas of your life.