Spiritual growth doesn’t happen automatically. You must desire to grow, decide to grow, discipline yourself, and delight in spiritual growth. ‘But my life is just too hard,’ you say. A lot of people have had it worse than you and grown into spiritual maturity, and a lot of folks have had it better and remained stuck in spiritual infancy. That’s because they doubted their ability to grow, drifted wherever the current took them, or delayed their growth, thinking, ‘I’ll get around to it when things change’. But it never happens. Growth always begins with a decision. ‘Follow me and be my disciple…So Matthew got up and followed him’ (Matthew 9:9 NLT). Matthew didn’t understand all the implications of his decision; he simply decided to follow Jesus. That’s all you need to get started: a decision. Nothing shapes your life like the decisions you make. If you want to know what you’ll be twenty or thirty years from now, examine the commitments and priorities that rule your life. It’s at the point of commitment that most of us miss God’s best. Because we are afraid to commit to anything, we make half-hearted commitments to too many things and end up frustrated because we chose the wrong things. And when we commit to the wrong things we end up living with regrets. Every choice has consequences, so choose wisely. Christlikeness is the result of making Christ-like choices, then depending on Him to help you fulfil those choices. And He will: ‘God accurately reproduces His character in you’ (Ephesians 4:24 MSG).
