Growth

Chuck Swindoll has written, “Remember during your growing-up years how your
mother had a specially designed wall with some pencil marks on it where, as you
grew from year to year, she marked where your head reached? We had such a wall
in our home. It was interesting to see how our children went through certain growth
spurts at times.

“On occasions, it was convicting when I came back from a trip and one of
the smaller children asked, “Daddy, how much did you grow while you were
away?” No, they didn’t have spiritual growth in mind, but I often thought
about their question in that light. They wanted to know, “Do you keep growing?
When does it stop?”

“God uses an infinite number of vehicles in the process of helping us grow.
I do not know of any means that leads to instant growth. I’ve never met anyone
who became instantly mature. It’s a painstaking process that God takes us through,
and it includes such things as waiting, failing, losing, and being misunderstood-each
one calling for extra doses of perseverance. In your own spiritual growth, where
are the marks on the wall of your life? Where do you stand in light of last year?
Or how about the last decade?

“Christian growth comes through hard-core, gutsy perseverance of applying
what you hear and obeying it.”

 – Dallas Seminary Daily Devotional, 1/4/04

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