CHAPTER II

GOD'S PLAN AND PROMISES FOR OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH

When parents talk about their children, they are prone to talk about their growth. People say things like, "My, what a grown-up little lady you've become!" or "I can't believe how tall your son is!" It's natural for us to talk about our children in terms of growth. It's a source of no little joy to see our families grow.

There is a wall in the hall upstairs at my parent's home in Pennsylvania that hasn't been scrubbed in more than twenty-five years. I know that sounds terrible, so I'll explain.

On that wall, my mother marked the height of each of her grandchildren and the date of each mark. This wall looks a little like the New York Stock Exchange, with highs and lows marked. It holds a visual history of her grandchildren and will never be scrubbed as long as my mother lives.

Growth is important to all of us. We measure our height once in a while and mark some milestones along the way.

Our growth is important to our Heavenly Father as well. However, He is more interested in our spiritual than our physical growth.

What is God's plan for our spiritual growth? Here it is in a nutshell. God plans to provide all that is necessary for believers to grow spiritually and become increasingly like the Lord Jesus.

God did not just plan to save us; He planned to develop us as well.

Again, hard questions come to mind.