Tonight at our Little Big Church we looked at the subject of growing up in Christ. The children in church are all growing (we measured them!) and it’s relatively easy to see children’s natural growth. We thought about what is required to grow physically, and concluded that we need:
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Light
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Water
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Nutrients
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Air
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Space
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Exercise (to keep healthy)
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Education (to keep learning)
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Clothes (to keep warm)
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Love & guidance
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Sleep
If we relate this to spiritual growth, we can see very clear parallels:
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Light – we still need light from God’s word to help us to see how we should live and what choices we should make.
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Food & drink – we need spiritual food and drink to grow. Peter told people to ‘crave pure spiritual milk like newborn babies, so that by it, you may grow up in your salvation.’ (1 Peter 2:2) Paul talks about needing solid food to grow up (Hebrews 5:12,14). The Bible and the Holy Spirit are our food and drink. The Bible gives us everything we need to know about God, about ourselves, about life, and the Holy Spirit is like water to our souls, refreshing us and giving us the power to live the way God wants us to.
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Exercise – this is really learning to do what God says. As we exercise naturally, our muscles become stronger and we can do more. As we learn to trust what God says and do what He says, rather than what we might think ourselves, our faith grows and we become more like Jesus. You can exercise every day in Jesus as you read His word and do what it says.
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Clothes – we don’t need real clothes to grow as Christians, but God often talks about putting on love and robes of righteousness as if we are putting on clothes. The clothes we need are sometimes called the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. When we let these attitudes grow inside us, it’s like wearing the right clothes.
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Education – as we read the Bible and pray and come to church, we learn more about God and this helps us to grow.
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Love & Guidance – we need God’s love and we need God to guide us and teach us if we’re going to grow up. Other people are really important too – our family, our church family, our friends. Feeling loved and accepted is a bit like the plant having the space and room to grow. When we know we are loved and that we’re not alone, we can grow in confidence and can do great things for God.
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Rest – sleep and rest are important in life and they are important spiritually too. God gave us the night to sleep in because He knows we need rest. He gave us the Sabbath, a day of rest, because He knows we need time with Him and with God’s people to worship and seek God.
