As a child of God, how can I grow and become more mature this year?
God's response
Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness.
1 Peter 2:2-3
Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith of God. [Let us go on...and become mature in our understanding.]
Hebrews 6:1
When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies.
Jeremiah 15:16
One characteristic all children share is that they want to grow up to be like their big brothers or sisters or their parents. When we first believe in Christ, we become spiritually newborn babies. If we are healthy, we will yearn to grow to maturity.
The need for milk is a natural instinct for babies, and they express in an unmistakable way their desire for nourishment. Once we see our need for God's Word and begin to find nourishment in Christ, our spiritual appetites will increase, and we will start to mature.
God's promise
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of hose who take refuge in him!
Psalm 34:8
[Extracted from the book of daily inspiration]
Reflections
To return to the question, "as a child of God, how can I grow and become more mature this year?", I think the main method is through reading the words. Just like what Steph asked me to text CF the other day: Prayer is good, but it alone is not enough. Reading the words is also important, as God may speak to us through the words.
In the process of growing, I've noted the importance of support from people around. e.g. I grew more and faster when I shared with Steph, asked questions and discussed the bible knowledge with her. The same thing happened last year, back then when I had so much doubts and questions to ask and I learned more by trying to find out more, mainly by asking people who are more spiritually mature than me.
On top of reading and reflecting, I guess applying things which we learn also helps us to grow. e.g. wanting to be a blessing to people around us (from last Sunday's sermon) by even just doing simple stuff such as cooking for them and showing our concern help us to realise God's purposes of putting us in a certain place.
However, all in all, studying God's words is the fundamental of all these, as knowing what God desire us to be, His promises and His responses will guide us along this journey.
Oh yea, and one more thing... Steph showed me something last Friday in church.. New Christians ought not feel bad as a result of comparing themselves with more mature Christians. (something like that, I can't phrase things properly now>.<) And yea, after all what's important is not how other people view us, but God =D
*steph, sorry for this late post, I actually fell asleep while reading your post about Job 4-5. Brain's only partially functioning already ><>
yee kuan
3 comments:
hahaha!!!! I knew u wud fall asleep reading mine cuz the conversation between Job and his friends are super long winded..have to bear with me and the scripture until chapter 37!!! XD hehe..
But after the reflection part, I extracted something from Phillip Yancey's book. That one you don't have to force yourself to read if tired.. hehe...You can read that when I post a shorter entry cuz I was afraid that by the time everyone finished with what Ray stedman wrote, the brain KO d la...
But yea good lo...the bible verse this time does say that we are like spiritual babies and once we start yearning for spiritual milk, it is true that our appetite will increase. Just like what you shared. I also felt the same lo. My spiritual life also has its ups and downs. The hunger was there but I had no discipline to do it. I just needed the discipline. But I think now ahhh...I am overspending too much time a bit reading the word..LOLZ...cuz today took me 4 hours. haha...need to cut down a bit cuz I also dozed off while studying. I now need a balance between studying and reading His word. =p
But after reading his Word, I do begin to feel some changes in me. Just like what I shared in the last entry. It was just one week yet I felt like I learnt a lot. Imagine the weeks to come. It is more fun doing quiet time with other people instead of doing it alone cuz I normally won't make it after a few days of doing it alone. so thanks Yee Kuan! hahahaha
hahah.. yea, my brain did KO after reading the Ray Stedman part, and it switched off >< I didn't feel like blogging after that but good thing I still managed to, hehehe.. It's only the start of term and I start to feel tired already :( maybe I won't feel that I need to spend time on so much things after Chee Hui goes back to Manchester hehehe =P
wow, 4 hours!! that's impressive! lol I doubt whether I spent even 1 hour lol
aww, no cell again this week, if I didn't misinterprete >< or maybe we still have besides discussing AOK?? not sure..
You did help me also, to clear my doubts when I have any, I feel like I didnt raise questions for a long time already.. So thanks too, Steph! =P
gonna go to uni now for SSC meeting, aikkss~ see ya~
haha...cuz u still adjusting to your new sleeping time mah after being haywire for a week. =p I woke up at 6.25am just to read your post le cuz I tertidur yesterday. hehehe..
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