Growing Up, Growing Old

Sears Toughskins. Husky. To this day, I hate that word husky. It was a nice way of saying short and fat. All the other kids wore "Regular," "Tall," "Short." I wore "Husky," as if I were an Alaskan sled dog or something. In fact, back then we called them "dungarees." How many of you remember THAT word? When I was a kid, I was about as round as I was tall. And ears. Please, don't get me started on the ears. I think I remember at one time the FAA wanting to borrow me and use my ears in their radar program. Well as time has worn on, my head has grown into my ears and I no longer have to wear those sled dog pants, Unfortunately, I have continued to grow right into my adult life.

Yet a nagging and ultimately more important question lingers in my heart, why do we not grow spiritually as we should? Maybe we fail to grow as we should because we do not have a good spiritual diet. We lack the essential spiritual vitamins, minerals and nutrients that cause us to develop and mature. Just as junk food cannot properly nourish our bodies, so also our spirits cannot grow if all we feed them are the sweet pabulum of spiritual candy. We grow when we allow ourselves to eat the fiber of the deep things of God found in his Word. We can only digest these truths by slowly chewing over them in meditation and seeking to learn what God has to say to us.

Maybe we fail to grow because of a lack of exercise. Rather than take the risk of faith, and get out in the world and minister in Jesus' name, we prefer to remain a spiritual couch potato – or I guess more accurately a "pew potato" – and sit on the pew soaking up all the preacher has to say, but not putting it into practice.

Maybe we fail to grow because we allow bad habits that stunt our growth – habits like those things Paul said to put away in Colossians 3:5-11. We allow sin to remain unconfessed, and we continue to practice our pet sins to our own spiritual detriment. Bad attitudes, sinful actions, derelict disciplines all hinder the growth that God want to bring in our lives.

There could be myriad other reasons why we do not grow, but at the core, we do not grow because we choose other things besides the Word and work of God in our lives. God has provided all we need to grow and He gives us His Spirit as the ultimate growth catalyst.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen! - 2 Peter 3:18

I challenge you to get into God's Word. Feed your spirit on the Bible. Exercise your faith. Eliminate the spiritually unhealthy in our lives. Lose the spiritual baby fat and enjoy a strong and healthy walk with God. You will be glad you did.