When a person is saved, they are to grow in the Lord. II Peter 3:18 says, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ…” That’s not a recommendation or a suggestion. That’s an order. So how are new believers to grow in the Lord?
When I was first saved…
I started reading my Bible. I didn’t understand it, but I read it anyway. I Peter 2:2-3 says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
I started attending church and Bible study regularly. Unfortunately, the church threw me into ministry before I’d even tasted the milk of the Word, so I wasn’t under the teaching of the Word like I should have been. I was in with the two-year-olds by myself during the worship service. I had ten children.
I started praying. Now I didn’t realize that I was supposed to pray over everything, so I didn’t. But I did pray over major decisions, and I truly wanted God to guide me, so I trusted His decisions. My friend, Lynn, told me that if I wanted something, I should pray for it in faith, believing that God would give it to me; as long as I said, “if it’s your will.” Because if it wasn’t God’s will, He wouldn’t give it to me. That made no sense. How could I pray in faith, believing, and tack “if it’s your will” onto the end of every request? I figured that God knew if I wanted His will in my life (since God knows everything) and I didn’t have to voice it every time I prayed.
Because I lived so far from the church, it became a burden for the Meisenbachs to pick me up every Sunday morning, so I started riding the church bus. Every Sunday, I went home from church with a splitting headache, and I was only 17. I felt like I was never under the teaching of God’s Word. They had me working in the nursery, working in Children’s Church, working on the bus. And I was wearing out fast. It didn’t last long – maybe six months – and I dropped out of church altogether.
Now, God wants His little children to grow into mature, responsible adults spiritually just like we, as parents, want our little children to grow into mature, responsible adults physically. And just like moms and dads feed their babies, help them learn to walk, and give them toys that nurture their development, God does the same for His children. The difference is that our babies want to grow up and, very often, God’s babies do not.
I was out of church for three years, but God got me to a place where I would start to grow spiritually. I hadn’t learned a lot since I’d been saved, but what little I had learned, I didn’t forget. So three years later when I was considering going into the United States military, I prayed. I asked God for a simple sign, even though I had never read the story of Gideon. I said, “Lord, I want to go into the Air Force, but I don’t think I can pass the physical because of my balance. If this is your will, and you want me to go in, just help me pass that physical.”
I passed the physical. I made it through basic training. I graduated tech school. And the Air Force sent me to Alconbury, England. I wasn’t on base one week when two people invited me to church. Sandy attended the pentacostal church and Dave was baptist. I went with Dave only because he was handsome.
Did it matter? No. I was too young in the Lord to even know that I needed to be in church. But my Heavenly Father knew, so He sent a single airman to invite me.
- That’s where I started to grow in the Lord – that base…that church.
- That’s where I started to develop a relationship with my Heavenly Father.
- That’s where Floyd and I met and got married.
- That’s where God dealt with me about getting baptized.
- That’s where I learned to tithe.
- That’s where I learned the importance of church.
Because God wants us to grow, He makes the tools for our spiritual growth readily accessible to us. But He doesn’t force-feed anyone. Spiritual growth is still a choice. How sad to see an adult in diapers being spoon fed, still with the mind of a toddler. But that’s due to a disability they have no control over. How can someone who’s been saved for 15…20…30 years justify their spiritual infancy? It’s past time that we, as God’s children, grow up.