God wants us to grow in faith and character. He desires for us to step into the future He has planned for us with intention. God’s vision for this life is a journey where we become more and more like Christ, His full image and likeness.
Spiritual growth is a choice. We have to choose the discomfort of learning and change over the comfort zone of complacency.
KEY VERSE
“Let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God – what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.” Romans 12:2 TEV
Every choice we make has eternal consequences, and our commitments shape our lives. We become what we are committed to, so we need to be committed to God.
GOD’S PART AND YOUR PART
Becoming like Christ is not something we can do alone. It’s an effort between us and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit lives in us and works to transform us from the inside while we make an effort on the outside.
Our efforts to become like Christ begin with making Christlike choices, such as letting go of bad habits and resisting temptation. The Spirit helps us fulfil these choices.
“God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.” Philippians 2:3 CEV
A sign of spiritual immaturity is when people are casual about spiritual growth, as this shows they don’t understand the eternal implications of their actions.
CHANGE STARTS IN THE MIND
We cannot hope to change through willpower, it’s unsustainable. For lasting change, we must begin with our minds. A thought is behind every action or behaviour.
“Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of life.” Proverbs 4:23 CEV
Change always starts in the mind. Our thoughts determine our feelings which determine our actions (Romans 12:2). Becoming like Jesus means our minds to change to become like his. This is done by the Spirit through repentance (Ephesians 4:23). Repentance means to change our mind, a mental shift from our thoughts to His.
This mental shift occurs in two parts. The first part is to stop thinking selfishly. Our mindsets are naturally self-centred and immature, this way of thinking provokes sinful behaviour (Romans 8:5).
When we stop thinking selfishly we have more room in our minds for love and thinking about others which is the second part of the mental shift. Spiritually mature Christians are focused on others more than themselves just as Christ was.
“Each one of us needs to look around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out.” Romans 15:2-3 MSG
Our faith should be evident not just in what we say but in how we live it out. Thinking of others is the heart of being like Christ and the best sign of spiritual growth.
God has given us His Spirit to help us change our thoughts because thinking His way is not natural to us and without the Spirit, we would be unable to change. Without the Spirit we cannot spiritually grow.
“Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:12 CSB
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Wholeheartedly Faithul 
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