“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

My son was complaining recently about a throbbing pain in his legs. It was so painful that we went to the doctor to have x-rays taken. The result? It was merely something we have all felt at one point when we were younger. Growing pains.

Growth hurts. The ache and discomfort of pain can be agonizing, but it is necessary and always beneficial. God created us, not to stay stagnant, but to always be growing in Him and becoming more like Jesus. But it’s not easy, and we can certainly stunt it.

“Failure to thrive” is a term used to describe an underlying condition causing physical growth delay. The reason behind it is inadequate nutrition. Just like we need to feed our bodies with the necessary nutrients to grow, we need to feed ourselves spiritually for growth to occur.

God’s Word is the essential nourishment for your being. King David, described by God as a man ”after my own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), deeply loved and valued God’s Word with such passion that he not only meditated on it all day, but all night (Psalm 119:97, Psalm 119:148). Maybe we should be more like him so we can grow in faith.

Know that in the midst of heartache and pain, God is molding and growing you. Be confident in the promise from God that He is perfecting you as you allow Him to do the work He desires to do in you.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your promise that you are growing me into the person you have created me to be. I pray that your Word would fill my being. Open my heart to hearing all that you have to say to me and give me wisdom and knowledge while I meditate on your Word. Amen.

Thought:  it’s vital to commit yourself to putting time aside to read and meditate on God and His Word. Before you begin your day as well as at the close of your day, take some moments to be with God, strengthening and encouraging yourself with what He desires to show you.

By Brigitte Straub
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  Going Deeper with God

•  Personal Stories of Choosing God

•  Salvation Explained

The post Growing Pains appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Often, as a child, when I complained about some ache or pain that had no clear physical explanation, the simple parental diagnosis was: “It’s just growing pains.” I used to imagine my muscles and bones actually hurting while they stretched and grew. While I know nothing about the scientific nature of this evaluation, I do know it has a spiritual application that is entirely accurate. It hurts to grow.

It hurts to grow because we have to die to old ways in order to live anew, and old ways die hard.

We place a high premium in life on dying peacefully, but in reality dying almost always is accompanied by pain. We have dependencies with coping mechanisms that have enslaved us. It’s hard letting go of our security blankets.

In a touching scene from an older romantic comedy, Mr. Mom, Michael Keaton has to coax his toddler’s “whoopee” blanket away from him. Upon rendering it up, the little boy asks for a moment to himself to grieve the loss and we can almost touch his pain. We would like similar moments to grieve our little daily deaths, but we have to learn to move on, because the pain of losing is followed by the greater joy of finding God always meets us on the other side of our loss.

It hurts to grow because growing usually means facing into some fear or weakness that has limited us. Though God saves us through no effort of our own, he asks for our cooperation when it comes to our spiritual growth. Real spiritual growth only happens when our effort to act upon God’s word meets the provision of the Holy Spirit in us.

Or as Paul teaches, “Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT).

This is always the spiritual principle of growth. We obey by stepping into our weakness or our fear, trusting in the fact that because it is something He asks of us, He will meet us somewhere along the way with the power to do it. This is almost always a painful proposition because it requires a step into the unknown. What if God doesn’t show up? I suppose we can ask that question, but we will never get the answer on this side of the risk. We have to take the step, believing that there is something there that we can’t see. And if that doesn’t hurt, it’s probably not faith.

Old ways die hard, but new life dances on the gravestones.

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

Related Reading

•   Going Deeper with God
•   Lessons for Spiritual Growth
•  Salvation Explained

The post Growing Pains appeared first on Thoughts About God.