The Most Overlooked Spiritual Growth Step
And How Doing It Impacts You and the World
Reading the Bible, prayer, community, and sharing our faith are essentials of fully following Jesus. But there is another BIG practice that many believers never take that stops them from fulfilling their God-given purposes.
To Keep Making Progress We Must Do This
“Concerning Him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food…But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:11, 12, 14)
We know it’s God’s will that we keep growing and making positive changes in our lives; gradually becoming more and more like Jesus. (Ephesians 4:15) We never have to stop. We never have to get to the place of complacency and boredom, because there is ALWAYS more in God.
These believers, however, were experiencing spiritual “dullness of hearing.” They were not making progress and were still needing to receive teaching on the basics, the elementary principles of God’s kingdom. They still needed spiritual milk rather than the solid spiritual food that produces maturity.
Though the writer of Hebrews addresses several pitfalls to avoid, in this section he narrows in on a big step that is still often overlooked.
“By this time you ought to be teachers”
The Law of Giving and Serving
In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you…”
At it’s most basic level life can be broken up into two simple steps:
- Receiving
- Giving
If either one of those processes is stopped, we cease being healthy.
We receive food. Our body digests that food. We take that energy and do something with it.
If we don’t eat, we die. If we don’t move and take action we get sick, fat, and depressed.
The same is true with spiritual growth. We need to consistently eat healthy spiritual food. Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” To be spiritually healthy, we need to consistently ingest God’s words.
But then we need to take action based on those words; some form of giving and serving. If we give from what God has given us, THEN God gives us more. If we hoard it or hold back from sharing, then we shut down the receiving process.
“Give and it shall be given to you…”
If we’re getting stagnant in our spiritual life; if God seems silent or far away, it’s wise to stop and prayerfully ask ourselves, “am I consistently eating a good spiritual diet? Am I giving to others and serving others?”
Those two questions will do wonders for your spiritual health.
One More Super Important Step
The receivers of that Hebrews letter were getting dull of hearing, still needing spiritual milk, not really growing because they were not practicing what they heard, specifically by taking on a leadership role.
“Concerning Him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles….
The giving serving process needs to move into a leadership role in order for spiritual growth to continue.
Every Jesus-follower is called to some form of leadership.
Not all of us have the gift of teaching, but all of us are called to be able to teach others the basics of the faith and in the areas we are gifted in by God.
In decades of church life, I’ve watched this over and over again. People who will take on responsibility and lead others in some form or fashion keep growing. Those who don’t step into that role, plateau.
Here’s the reason: We learn and grow better by leading than by listening.
Every teacher knows they learned their subject much better when they started teaching it than when they were listening to others teach it.
One of the greatest ways to grow, is to start teaching others. Whether you are called to work with a small group or a larger group, teaching and caring for others, even with your flaws and weaknesses is one of THE most powerful steps you can take to keep growing and experiencing God’s presence.
I’m Not Ready, I’m Not Good Enough
It is amazing how many experienced believers, after reading the Bible for years, attending church for years, and having gained some important experience still feel inadequate to help someone else in their journey.
If you’ve been reading the Bible and following Jesus for 3 months, you know more than the person who is just starting out. If you’ll help them with what you’ve learned so far, I guarantee you’ll dig down and learn even more.
When you start helping, teaching, and leading others you not only help them, but you accelerate your own growth.
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