Growth

Growth No Short-Cuts
When James A. Garfield was president of Hiram College, a man brought his son for entrance as a student, for whom he wished a shorter course than the regular. "The boy can never take all that in," said the father. "He wants to get through quicker. Can you arrange it for him?"
Mr. Garfield, a minister-educator said, "Oh, yes. He can take a short course; it all depends on what you want to make of him. When God wants to make an oak, He takes a hundred years, but he takes only two months to make a squash."
Many want instant spirituality-like instant coffee or potatoes! It doesn't come that way! There are no short courses! No short-cuts! No gimmicks! It takes time to grow! Growth is a sequence-an orderly arrangement! "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again" was God's indictment of the Hebrew Christians (Hebrews 5:12-14).

Perfection
If the world were controlled by perfectionists, there would be no place for those who can never quite measure up to their standards. On the other hand, if the world were under the domination of people who wake up in a new world every day, we would probably suffocate in the accumulation of our own garbage within a week.
Fortunately "practically perfect" people like Mary Poppins manage to get mixed up with the Dick Van Dykes of the world. A husband who is so organized that he can predict with a fair degree of accuracy when his next shoestring is going to break, inevitably gets paired with a wife who hasn't the foggiest notion what she's going to prepare for dinner at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. A wife, with such an obsession for cleanliness that she jumps out of bed at 1 o'clock in the morning because she suddenly remembers that she forgot to mop up a blob of spilled orange juice from the kitchen floor, marries a clod who comes in from a hunting trip and tracks mud all over the floor she just cleaned. So goes the struggle between perfection and the spirit of tolerance.
There is a certain amount of tension in every serious thinking Christian's mind concerning the biblical call to perfection. In one compartment of the brain, there's a tug to live up to all the standards of Christ, but then on the other hand, our attempts to measure up to those standards are always flawed.
The New Testament clearly articulates the need to "perfect holiness out of reverence for God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). Perfection does not usually mean sinlessness in the Scripture. It usually means something like maturity or completeness. Even that can be illusive. Paul admitted that he had not "been made perfect" (Philippians 3:12). Yet he did not attempt to excuse himself from pursuing the goal of perfection. He said, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." The person who excuses himself from serious effort because nobody's perfect, is just playing a game and he is not even playing according to the rules. While it is self-righteous and hypocritical to claim that one has already conquered the flesh at any point in this life, we play a deadly game of self-vindication when we ignore the pursuit of perfection.

How to See Growth in Christ
Dr. Bonar once said that he could tell when a Christian was growing. In proportion to his growth in grace he would elevate his Maker, talk less of what he himself was doing, and become smaller and smaller in his own esteem, until, like the morning star, he faded way before the rising sun. A Christian Mandate
Do all the good you can
By all the means you can
In all the ways you can
In all the places you can
To all the people you can
As long as ever you can. Are You Pushed or Pushing?
How long would you keep an automobile that had to be pushed everywhere it went? How much would it be worth to you? How much pleasure would you find in it? You might keep an automobile that just had to be pushed occasionally, but you would not have one for long that just could not be depended on, that would not go whenever you wanted it to go.
The Lord is no more pleased with one of His servants that continually has to be pushed than you would be with an automobile that continually has to be pushed.
God wants men of initiative and fervency of spirit. Paul taught us to be diligent, not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord (Romans 12:11).
A man who has to be pushed continually in order to keep him in service and attending worship is not devoted to the cause. It is understandable that a newborn babe in Christ, a young convert, might need to be pushed or encouraged, but if one who has been a Christian for many years must still be pushed, he is not growing spiritually as he should. He is not spiritually mature.
Do you have to be pushed?

Manhood
Men and boys:
THE WORLD NEEDS MEN
...who cannot be bought;
...whose word is their bond;
...who put character above wealth;
...who are larger than their vocations;
...who do not hesitate to take chances;
...who will not lose their identity in a crowd;
...who will be as honest in small things as in great things;
...who will make no compromise with wrong;
...whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
...who will not say they do it "because everybody else does it;"
...who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
...who do not believe that shrewdness and cunning are the best qualities for winning success;
...who are not ashamed to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
...who can say "no" with emphasis, although the rest of the world says "yes."
God, make me this kind of man.

Longfellow's Prescription for a Long, Happy Life
The famous poet H. W. Longfellow was once asked how he managed a long and a happy life.
Pointing to an apple tree, the writer remarked: "The secret of the apple tree is that it grows a little new wood each year. That's what I try to do."
No matter what age you are, it is important to continue to grow spiritually each day, each month, each year. Such spiritual growth requires constant Bible study.
Why not start growing a little new wood now, by reading at least one chapter from the Bible each day? You will be blessed for it (Psa. 119).

Like an Eagle
The eagle is one of the largest and most powerful birds in the world. Some eagles weigh as much as 12 or 13 pounds and have a wingspan of about seven feet.
The nests of eagles are called eyries. They are built mainly of sticks and are often lined with fresh green leaves while they are being used. Once a year, the female lays one or two eggs, and they are carefully tended, sometimes even by the male eagle, until they hatch, in about 40 days. Both parents then guard the nest and take food to the young.
At about 11 or 12 weeks, a curious thing happens. If the eaglets have not ventured forth on their own, the parent eagle "stirs" or rocks the nest, tipping the eaglets out! The young eaglets flap about in panic, still novices at this flying business. The parent eagle hovers watchfully, waiting for the critical moment. With wings spread wide, the eagle then swoops down underneath those babies and delivers them back to the security of the eyrie.
Ours is a God of powerful gentleness. Ours is a God whose timing is perfect. Like the parent eagle, He is sensitive to our needs. He knows when the nest has become too comfortable and needs a little stirring. He, too, watches carefully, and, as with spread wings, catches us up, bringing us to Himself. But He wants us to learn from our fluttering and flopping. He wants us to leave behind our panic and to learn to wait on Him. Then, with our eyes on our parent eagle, we will begin to know what it means to soar on eagle's wings!

You Become What You Are
Max Beerbohm wrote a story entitled, "The Happy Hypocrite." The title sounds like a paradox, doesn't it? The story was about a character whose face personified evil. The man was faced with a dilemma: the woman he loved refused to marry him because he didn't look saintly. To solve the problem, the suitor put on a mask with a kind face. The young woman married him despite the face underneath the mask. Her husband proved to be an attentive, unselfish husband.
One day in a moment of rage, an enemy abruptly tore off her husband's mask before his wife's eyes. Instead of a cruel, grotesque face, the man had become what he had lived for many years. Kindness, not evil, radiated from his face!
The Bible urges us to "keep the faith" because someday we will look like Him in whom we believe (1 John 3:2).

Building Factories
An engineer who was responsible for building great factories said that all such construction is now planned with the machines that are to be housed in the factory in mind. The walls and floors of the buildings are constructed so that a machine can be built into the very foundation and structure of the building, rather than set in as an afterthought.
This is the way the Lord builds believers into Christ. We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, and in Him all the building is fitly framed together, so that it "groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:20-21). That is surpassing even the modern engineers. They can frame their building and foundation and machines together "fitly," but they cannot make the building "grow." The true believers are fused in Christ and grow in Him together with Him and together with one another.

Look Up
A house painter was at work atop a tall ladder that leaned against the second-story gable of a house. A small boy playing about the yard discovered the ladder, and as is natural for small boys, he began to climb it. His mother, checking on her child, was shocked to find that he was more than half way to the top of the ladder.
As the woman stifled a scream of panic, the man at the top looked down, saw the child, and instantly perceived the danger. Signaling the mother to be silent, he calmly said to the child, "Look up, sonny, look up here to me, and keep climbing." Rung by rung, he coaxed the child ever higher: "Come on now, keep looking up, keep coming." At last, the child safe in his arms, the painter carried him safely to the ground.
Well, each of us is somewhere on a ladder. If we look down, we may be terrified. God is saying, "Look up to me; keep looking up, and you will never be dismayed or undone by whatever is down there." So let's look up, up to where our safety lies; let's look up, and take heart, and keep climbing.

Soar on Wings Like Eagles
"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV).
An eagle knows when the storm is approaching long before it breaks. It will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, it is soaring above it.
The eagle doesn't escape the storm, it simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rides on the winds that bring the storm.
Isaiah compares people to eagles. He says, in the words of God, that we are blessed with that gift from God that enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm. Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weight us down, it is the way we handle them. No Progress
If we plant a tree, it begins to grow; if we set a post, it begins to decay. There was an old farmer who, in the prayer meetings of his church in describing his Christian experience, always said: "Well, I'm not making much progress, but I'm established." One spring when the farmer was setting out some logs, his wagon sank in the mud in a soft place in the road, and he could not get out. As he sat on top of the logs viewing the situation, a neighbor who had never accepted the principle of the old farmer's religious experience came along and greeted him: "Well, Brother Jones, I see you are not making much progress, but you're established." No Substitute
A devout Frenchman was right when he said, "Beware of a religion which substitutes itself for everything-that makes monks. Seek a religion which penetrates everything-that makes Christians." Chlorophyll is essential to green trees. As it is acted upon by the sun, it purifies the dirty air, absorbing the carbon dioxide that poisons us. Just so, the action of the Holy Spirit is essential to the believer, to purify his spiritual life.

Needy Children
Some people have the idea that once the relationship is established between God and man, nothing more is needed. This is a mistake. When a child is born it has the general nature and characteristics of its parents, but does it not continue to need their loving care? It could not live without it. So it is with us and God. He gives us of His nature, His fullness; we become His children, but we need Him constantly and uninterruptedly if we are to go on living spiritually. Our lives as Christians cannot be maintained at all unless it is He who maintains them. This is unlike our earthly parent-child relationship in one sense, however. In our relationship with God we never outgrow our need to be dependent on Him. And though, in the New Testament, Christian maturity is enjoined on all believers, this process of spiritual growth never brings us to a point where we may become independent of God. We are given to understand that our relationship to Him is always that of children. Woe unto anyone who ceases to be a child of God in his own estimation and thinks he has grown up sufficiently to be independent of God! The Young Christian
"The young Christian is still carnal," says Andrew Murray. "Regeneration is a birth: the center and root of the personality, the spirit, has been renewed and taken possession of by the Spirit of God. But time is needed for its power from that center to extend through all the circumference of his being. The kingdom of God is like unto a seed; the life in Christ is a growth, and it would be against the laws of nature and grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ the strength that can only be found in the young men, or the rich experience of the fathers."

Strive for Spiritual Maturity
Dr. Shelton, a former president of the National Bible Institute in New York City, used to recount with a twinkle in his eye the story of the first time he took his little daughter to a restaurant. She began prattling in her high, clear childish voice to the amusement of the other diners and the embarrassment of her father. "Hush, Marjorie," he said, "people are looking at you." "But Daddy," she protested, "Marjorie must speak!" May it not be that immature Christians by their foolish talk and thoughtless behavior cause those around them to laugh at Christians in general and bring embarrassment to their heavenly Father? Let us consciously strive for spiritual maturity so that with Paul we may say, "When I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11).

Responsible for Growth
God made you essentially what you are. Don't find fault with Him because you are different from others. Discover what you are and grow in the pattern He has designed for you. We are responsible for growing, but not for the essential element of our being. A little girl expressed it beautifully when she said, "Mother made me this much"- indicating the smallness of a baby-"and I growed that much" -showing how tall she had become. How tall have you grown in your Christian life? A Spiritual Photograph
Spurgeon says: "We have the likenesses of our boys taken on every birthday ... so that we see them at a glance from their babyhood to their youth. Suppose such photographic memorials of our own spiritual life had been taken and preserved; would there be a regular advance, as in these boys, or would we still have been exhibited in the perambulator? Have not some grown awhile, and then suddenly dwarfed? Have not others gone back to childhood? Here is a wide field for reflection."