Friday Day #23 How We Grow

"God wants you to grow up.

Spiritual growth is not automatic. It takes an intentional commitment. You must want to grow, decide to grow, make an effort to grow, and persist in growing.

Discipleship-the process of becoming like Christ-always begins with a decision.

We become what we are committed to.

Every choice has eternal consequences, so you better choose wisely.

"Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose."

Spiritual growth is a collaborative effort between you and the Holy Spirit.

To change your life, you must change the way you think. "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think."

Repentance..."To change your mind."

The first half of this mental shift is to stop thinking immature thoughts....The second half of thinking like Jesus is to start thinking maturely, which focuses on others, not yourself.

Our deeds must be consistent with our creeds, and our beliefs must be backed up with Christlike behavior.

Christianity is...a relationship and a lifestyle.

It's never too late to start growing" PDL Chapter 23

I've heard many times; "We become what we think about.", but this chapter takes that to the next level. It's not enough to think about Christ all day long, we have to start with a decision to change our lives to follow him. "We become what we are committed to." But it takes more than us, we must allow the Holy Spirit to work within us for change. The chapter says that first we have to stop thinking immature thoughts and then start thinking maturely, focusing on others. I don't believe that you can stop thinking about anything. If I said don't think about the ocean, what comes to mind? I think it's all about the second part, when we focus on others and the life Christ wants to lead, the immature thoughts recede. Much like putting a drop of ink in a teaspoon of water, the water turns black (immature thoughts), but if you transfer that to a full glass water, it's only slightly grew (growing in spiritual maturity). If you then transfer that water to a full bathtub of water and then that water to a swimming pool, the ink is gone. So it is with our thoughts directing our choices, our choices directing or actions, our actions directing our lives.