One of our core values at 7 City Church is personal growth. We say it like this: “We value personalized and unrelenting lifelong learning.” I recently challenged our congregation to embrace this value by putting into practice the four essentials of a growth posture.
These essentials come from Hebrews five and six. In this passage, the writer of Hebrews paints a pretty clear picture of personal growth, and he challenges us to be intentional about growing into who God has called us to become.
1. A Listening Ear
Hebrews 5:11 says, “There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen” (NLT). That’s a pretty tough indictment. These early Christians had become “spiritually dull” because they failed to be active listeners.
Listening is the gateway to learning. It’s a living, breathing exercise in humility (which plays a vital role in growth). You learn nothing every time you talk. In fact, when the quantity of your talking exceeds the quality of your listening, the substance of your talking is diminished by the shortage of your listening. You might need to read that again to let it sink in.
We must place ourselves in new and unfamiliar listening environments. If we’re not careful, we succumb to the disease of mindless mingling. In other words, we become “mind-less” because we always “mingle” with the same people, and therefore continually draw from the same pool of knowledge. How we think is limited by what we know, who we know, and who we listen to. As Andy Stanley observes, “If you are surrounded long enough by people who think like you think, you will become more and more certain that’s the best way to think.”
2. An Ownership Attitude
Hebrews 5:12a says, “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word” (NLT).
The problem with these early believers was their continual state of receiving without giving. In other words, they expected others to do their growing for them, but they never helped others grow. In short, they didn’t own their growth.
This same thing happens today. Your personal growth must be driven by an ownership attitude not an outsourcing attitude. You know what “outsourcing” is don’t you? It’s where we find an outside source to do what we don’t want to do.
[bctt tweet=”Your personal growth must be driven by an ownership attitude not an outsourcing attitude”]
Today, we outsource everything: lawn service, house cleaning, laundry, even washing the dog. The problem is, we’ve taken the same attitude toward our spiritual growth. We’ve outsourced our spiritual growth to the church. We’ve said, “My growth is the church’s responsibility, not my responsibility.” And while the church can provide environments to help people grow, the truth is, only one person can own your growth. And that’s you. As the old Irish proverbs says, “You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.”
Do you own your growth, or are you outsourcing your growth? Do you read your own Bible, pray your own prayers, and read books for yourself. Do you seek out coaching and mentoring relationships, or do you expect somebody else to pay the price tag of your growth?
3. A Maturity Mindset
The writer of Hebrews continues:
“…You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment” (Hebrews 5:12b-6:2, NLT).
These early Christians were trapped in a cycle of spiritual infancy. Imagine what this would be like if it happened to you physically. Imagine going to work, but instead of bring your coffee mug, you brought a baby bottle. Imagine sitting in meetings sucking your bottle while everyone else is sipping their coffee. People would look at you like you’re crazy.
You’d never do that at work, and yet, that’s exactly what was happening in the spiritual lives of these believers. Because they didn’t own their spiritual growth, they just kept sucking on small doses of spiritual milk. What was the result? They lacked the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
Has that happened to you? Is your ability to discern God’s will clouded by your inability – or unwillingness – to mature? When somebody points out sin, do you get offended? When we stop maturing spiritually, it’s easy to start justifying our sin. The same Jesus who said to the woman caught in adultery, “I don’t condemn you,” is the same Jesus who told the same woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11). God’s grace was meant to free you from sin, not give you a license to keep sinning.
[bctt tweet=”When we stop maturing spiritually, it’s easy to start justifying our sin.”]
Please hear my heart. None of us are perfect. There is nothing any of us can do in our own power to be made right with God. That only happens through the grace of God. But when we view God’s grace as a permission slip to keep sinning, we are abusing the most precious gift God has ever given to us. God’s grace should lead us toward maturity, not keep us trapped in an eternal state of infancy.
Do you have a maturity mindset when it comes to your relationship with God? Or are you simply looking for fire insurance to get you to heaven?
4. A Forward Focus
The final aspect of a growth posture is found in Hebrews 6:3: “And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding” (NLT). Is your growth moving forward, or has it stopped? Have you slipped into a comfortable state of laziness while growth opportunities pass you by?
Personal growth isn’t something you graduate from. It’s a lifelong journey. This is why we focus on personalized, unrelenting, lifelong learning. It implies a forward focus. As the Message says, “So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ” (Hebrews 6:1).
Question: Which of the four essentials is missing in your growth posture?
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