Growth Models

God created people in His image. He created us out of His deep desire to express love. God had a deep desire to express His love on His creation. God gave us a deep desire to grow and increase. It is in our design and nature to grow. There are many ways we grow and develop. The body is the most noticeable as it reflects outward growth. The body grows in size as the bones and muscles develop. Even though we age chronologically, does not mean that we fully developed in every aspect or that we fully grow into what might be considered age appropriate.

We learn to adapt our wants and desires through our triumphs and tragedies. Our successes become inspirational and our disasters prove educational. We can grow the mind in wisdom with knowledge and understanding. We can grow in our character attributes like patience and trust. We can grow in strength and integrity. Integrity shows what we are made of: who we are deep down inside where nobody else is looking. God created each of us to reflect His attributes. As we practice our moral obligation of distinguishing right and wrong, we are practicing Godly principle and Godly values.

Perhaps you are thinking you want to work on your personal development, or in your relationships. Maybe you want to grow in an emotional area or that you want to become more spiritual.  It seems as if there is a spiritual life where we learn about God and we grow in a relationship with Him. Then it seems there is the emotional and relational life where we learn how to deal with real life problems. Spiritual growth should affect relational problems, emotional problems, and all other problems of life. Even though we tend to separate growth in separate areas, all growth is spiritual growth if we become more like Jesus. It is all in one.

There are basically four popular ways of thinking about growth. Each of these models helps us to grow in their own way. The first is the sin model. The sin model says that all your problems are a result of your sin. It is up to your friend or helper to find the sin, confront the sin, urge us to confess, repent and sin no more. The sin model says God is good and that you are bad, so stop sinning. The second is the truth model. In the truth model people improve through prayer and learning about the Bible especially your position in Christ. The third is the experiential model. In the experience model you are to find the source of the pain and process it out. The Fourth is the supernatural model. Some find instant healing and deliverance in the supernatural model to growth. Most others depend and trust in the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them so Christ can reproduce and change them.

Examine your preconceptions about growth and your own model of how people grow. Look at the things you have been taught and see if you think they encompass all that the Bible says or that you want out of life.