The Tasks of Growth

Growth is not passive. It requires much effort, but the results are always worth it. It is important to understand what is needed to promote and further develop your own spiritual growth. The following tasks are required as we actively seek out the heart of God:

Humble yourself: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10). Humility is defined as, "A quality by which a person considering his own defects has a humble opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God's sake." Humility helps you assume a position of need, dependency, and obedience, which allows God to best support your growth. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is knowing you yourself desperately require forgiveness as the greatest of all needs.

Seek reality and truth: Our tendency is to avoid pain and not rock the boat, yet the spiritual person stays on a quest for growth. Take the initiative to get information about your issues from God and others. You need to find where you are weak, broken, or immature. Ask God to search you (Psalm 139:23-24), using His presence, truth, circumstances, or other people. Be aware of the tendency to minimize the seriousness of your condition; wanting to appear like you, “have it all together”. Growth requires risk. Be vulnerable and ask for feedback from others. Do not wait for change to happen. Take the initiative to face what you have been afraid to know.

Bring your heart to relationship: Being emotionally present requires action. It takes work to keep your heart available and vulnerable. The tendency is to withhold or protect. Yet the fruit of growth comes from when you let others inside: “We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As fair exchange, I speak as to my children, open wide your hearts also” (2Corinthians 6:12-13). Face the hurt and pain. With the love and support of God and others, experience the realities of your past, your sins, and your hurts. Bring these into relationship so they can be grieved, accepted, repented of, and comforted.

Confession and repentance: Confession is simply "owning" our negative thoughts and emotions and acknowledging that what we have thought or done, either ignorantly or knowingly, has quenched God's Spirit in us. Because it's sin, we must confess "ownership" of it. Repenting is simply choosing to turn around from following what our negative thoughts and emotions are telling us and instead, choosing to follow whatever God has shown us. Repenting means we are to stop looking at and pointing to the other person and begin looking at and pointing to ourselves. This critical step of confession and repentance is our own responsibility. As 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, then He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is the step, however, that many of us have left out when we have given things over to the Lord. Certainly, we've given our hurts to God, but most of the time, we've forgotten to admit our own part in the problem. And this is why so many of the things we've surrendered to the Lord often do come back. If we don't do our part of confessing and repenting of our sin and self, God is hindered from doing His-taking our sins away "as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12)."