Real Mature: What You Can Do to Grow Your FaithÖrnek

Growing is quite the experience. We have hopes, dreams, and wishes about who we want to be. Along the way, life happens some of those hopes and dreams are squashed by this broken world. If we’re honest at times, we just want to escape from the brokenness of this world. 

Some great news for you as we finish up this devotional: God did not intend you to do this alone. Much of our growth is personal, but there is also a big part of our growth that comes from those we invite into our life.

Think about the parable of the seeds. If you plant a bunch of seeds in good soil, you are going to harvest a big crop. If you just plant in a small patch of good soil, you will only harvest that little area. We need others in our lives to help us dig in the dirt and grow. If we do it right, it’s messy. That’s OK. Just like you have your stuff, so do they. But it makes it much more helpful to have others with you as you dig into the dirt of your life. 

Take a look at what the writer of Hebrews shares:  

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25. 

Spurring one another on. What a great image. We need others to help us at times and sometimes we need help others. It goes both ways. You were not meant to do this alone and one of the great gifts God has given us to help us grow is others in our life. Sharpen yourself and make it a priority to invite others into your life. Your life will be better. So will the others! In this way, you will soon find yourself growing in ways that lead you closer to Him and His heart for you and the world. 

Think about it: 

Who is the “good soil” in your life right now? 

In whose life might you be the good soil? 

How do you find yourself growing because of the others in your life? Who do you need to invest in or who do you need to ask to invest in you? 

Sharpening is a process. It takes time and it’s consistently needed. How are you sharpening your faith with others? 

Pray: 

God, it’s incredible that you give us others to help us grow. Help me see those you have put into my life for just that. Help me to see those who I need to invest in to help them grow in you. If I don’t know who they are right now, help me, God, to be looking for and trusting you for those people so that I can be the best version of the person you have me to be. Help me to be real mature in you, Jesus. Amen.