Growing In Christ Jesus

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their sins.”           2 Peter 1:5-9 (NIV)

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Many unbelievers think that they must be “cleaned up” to come to Jesus for redemption. And many new saints have been told that asking Jesus to be Lord and Savior of their life is all that they must do to get to Heaven. Both of these are incorrect, though. First of all, Jesus came for the sinners to join Him through believing that He is God’s Son and confessing that He is Lord of their lives. We need Him to take us as we are because no amount of good behavior or works will clean us up; only His sacrifice on the cross can do that. Secondly, life with Christ doesn’t freeze at salvation. It just begins an amazing adventure!

Peter, the disciple Father God chose to lead the church after Jesus’ resurrection, instructs believers to welcome growth. We must continually allow the Lord to mold and shape us into Jesus’ character. We are to be intentional and rejoice in expanding in faith, goodness, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection for one another, and real agape love that draws witnesses to salvation in Jesus, the Savior.

How do we do that? Each person has an individual path to disciple him or her in learning about Jesus through studying the Bible. As we grow in Bible knowledge, we realize that some of our beliefs contradict Jesus’ heart. With the Spirit’s help, we begin to renew our minds with God’s truth and discard wrong beliefs. We practice self-control over poor behaviors we developed from these wrong beliefs, discarding coarse language, poor media choices, criticism, over-eating or drinking, and other methods to avoid stress. We actively choose emotional, physical, and spiritual happiness found in like-minded friendships, positive movies, books and podcasts, and healthy exercise programs. As we grow into our godliness, we use our ministry giftings to serve others with kindness and encouragement. We grow in Jesus’ ways, and the Holy Spirit leads us to share God’s love in a broken world.

In your prayer time with Jesus today, ask Him to lead you to know Him better and develop greater Christian character.