God expects Christians throughout the nations of the world to grow up spiritually, educationally and morally to be Christlike in character and competent in ministry.
Growth is necessary for Christian believers. Peter, the apostle, throws light on this expectation when he tells believers to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
Earlier in his first letter, Peter had told Christians especially those who are young in the faith to “…long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation…” (1 Peter 2:2).
To long for the spiritual milk which is basically the Word of God is to personally desire, crave for the Word of God.
This means every Christian must be personally responsible for their own growth. This implies that every Christian should take personal responsibility for seeking the pure and unadulterated word of God.
Pastors will always teach the Word of God, but it is up to individual believers to receive it into their spirit.
As a person, you must understand that you are a spirit being with a soul and live in a body. Both your spirit and body must grow simultaneously to function the way God created and formed them.
Thus, the Lord Jesus points out that “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).
This means your body grows by living on physical foods which grow from the earth while your spirit grows by living on food, (words) which come from God.
These are the two kinds of food every Christian must eat daily to grow in areas God expects in the life of a Christian believer.
As already stated, every Christian is responsible for their own growth. Those who feed on the Word of God daily with prayer will have their spirit grow up beautifully, but those who will not desire the Word will suffer stunted growth spiritually.
By James Quansah