A Christian article on spiritual growth and development taking a look at what distinguishes a mature believer from a young believer. Key features of a mature believer and the basic understanding required for accelerated growth in Christ Jesus.

1. A short article on growing up in Christ.
Happy reading.
Growing up in Christ Jesus.
Clearly from scriptures we ought to grow up as Christians as the scriptures distinguishes between being
carnal, being babes and being mature. Let’s take a quick look at scriptures for the definition of these
terms.
Carnal Christians/Babes – 1st Corinthians 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual
people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now
you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where
there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
Mature Christians – Hebrews 5;13-14 - For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word
of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who
by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Clearly, our goal is to become mature Sons in Christ Jesus. The question then is what is the right path? I
must say that our journey with the LORD as Christians is a very personal one and as such each of us will
have a unique path because His plans for each of us are different and varied. Nonetheless, we can have
general guidelines.
The first step really is coming into the faith by accepting our heavenly Father’s free gift of salvation. At
this point we are babes in Christ and would often reflect the carnal nature. Our Fathers provision for us
at this stage is to take us through the process of sanctification. This really is where the growing up
begins and it is an experiential exercise. 1st Corinthians 1:18 tells us “for the message of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”.
Furthermore, Hebrews 10:14 says for by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being
sanctified. Notice the terms being saved and being sanctified clearly showing that this is a process.
For us to get the best out of this process, some basics are required. First, we need to have a good grasps
and understanding of the elements of our armour (The belt of truth, the breast plate of righteousness,
the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit). Why is this
necessary? It is necessary because the sanctification process is a period of warfare and as Christian
soldiers we need to know and understand our weapons of warfare.
Secondly, as an outcome of understanding the sword of the spirit we need to know who we are in Christ
Jesus. A general understanding and knowledge of the scriptures is good but a very good understanding
of who we are in Christ Jesus is critical and very essential because to a large extent this is what the fight
of faith and growing up process is essentially about i.e. us becoming mature Sons in Christ, going from
glory to glory and having a more Christ like nature. Thus we need to pay special attention to the “in
Him” verses in the Holy Scriptures and others that shed more light on who we are in Christ Jesus.
As such, development goals from this session would be studying the elements of our armour and the “in
Him” verses in the Holy Scriptures.

2. Once we have a good grasps of these basics we are in a good position to undergo the process of
sanctification. Just as I earlier mentioned it is an experiential process initiated by the LORD and the
believer would be conscious of this process as it happens. It’s very possible to have the basics and stay in
that position for years but once the LORD initiates the sanctification process an acceleration in growth
would usually follow if we understand the process for what it is and not pay too much attention to what
the enemy would also be doing (real or perceived); some of which are part and parcel of the growth
process. Indeed, our ability to discern between good and evil is an outcome of the growth process. No
wonder we are told to be as wise as a serpent but as gentle and harmless as a dove.
Now, once we have the basics, what do we need to know to be successful during the sanctification
process? During this period there is the tendency to doubt and so we must know beyond a doubt that
God loves us and a loving Father wants the best for His children. It is our Father’s good pleasure to give
us the Kingdom (Luke 12; 32).
Secondly, we need to be firmly rooted and grounded in love for our faith works by love, love never fails
and God is love. A paraphrase of one of our hymns says ka sise pelu ife mimo ki oluwa fi le wa pelu
wa…(let us work in divine love as a necessary condition for the LORD to abide with us). So understanding
what God’s love means is essential. A study of the scriptures about love would be a good way to go.
Based on these firm foundations [(our armour, who we are in Christ - Faith/Word), and love] we are
ready to grow; the rest will be experiential and would be an application of what we know in the daily
experiences of life which would be unique to each individual. As we do so, we learn more and grow even
further and deeper in Christ. No matter how difficult things may appear, never forget that it’s our
Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom and He is more than willing and able to give to all who
come to Him because He is the all-sufficient God. Indeed, inherent in those situations are opportunities
for growth in our knowledge and understanding of who we are in Christ Jesus and the mysteries of the
Kingdom.
Shalom!