Pray the WordSample

The Need for Continual Growth

In today's passage, the apostle Paul addresses the disunity and division in the church at Corinth, which was a sign of their spiritual immaturity. He couldn’t address them as “spiritual people,” but as “people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.” He essentially calls them spiritual babies who need milk rather than solid food. They weren’t yet ready for more substantive truths from God’s Word.

This reminds us of our need to grow in our knowledge of and dependence on God’s Word. May God keep us from apathy and from coasting through the Christian life. We don’t want to be immature and unable to digest the solid food of God’s Word.

Initially, children are only able to digest milk. Then, little by little, they begin to take on more solid food until, finally, they are ready for a steady diet of solid food. That’s what Paul’s desire was for these Corinthians believers. He did not want them to feast merely on elementary things; he wanted them to see in a deeper, more substantial way what God wanted for them.

Think about your Christian life right now: how have you grown over the last year? What kind of spiritual food are you eating now that you wouldn’t have been able to eat a year ago? Have your spiritual taste buds matured? If we’re not careful, especially if we’ve been following Christ for years, we can begin coasting rather than progressing into a deeper understanding of God’s Word. If you’re in that kind of a rut, ask God to change that. Every Christian needs to be continually growing.

Prayer

God, we want to grow more and more in our knowledge of your Word and our understanding of who you are and how you work. As instruments in your hands, we want to do more for your glory today than we have done in the past. Mature us daily so that, a year from now, our growth in Christlikeness would be significant.

God, forgive us for the times when we coast. Pull us out of complacency and apathy and draw us deeper into the knowledge of you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.