‘You are what you eat’, is a phrase used by doctors, dieticians, nutritionists, fitness trainers et. cetera. Despite the fact that we might have heard it a gazillion times, the truth in that phrase remains constant.
For the most part, it is clear that every stage of physical development comes with the need to provide the body with the required nourishments for a healthy development at that stage.
Just as it is with our physical development so it is with our development spirituality. In 1 Peter 2, the Bible was likened to milk, in the sense that for new believers, the Bible is a foundational tool for developing in the knowledge of God. This goes beyond skimming through a few lines of the Bible to spending quality time meditating on God’s Word.
The process of spiritual growth requires us to carefully select what we feed our spirits with. I was thinking of spiritual junk foods, and I realized that certain thoughts and false information fit the bill, adding excess ‘calories’ to our spirit with little to no actual nutritional value.
Part of growing spiritually is also living with God on a daily basis, rather than only attending church services and depending solely on the contents of the preacher’s sermon. We are expected to continually and consciously spend time in God’s word and in His presence, until doing so becomes second nature to us, and we are able to understand God’s heart as he expresses Himself to us. It’s also important to not discount the words of sermons even as we work towards spiritual maturity.
Our environment also influences our choice of diet and lifestyle. I remember going back to school after promising my Dad that I’d reduce my carb intake, especially with Bread, Garri and Indomie, only to find myself eating exactly those. This was because as much as I wanted to eat a variety of nutritious meals and fruits, they weren’t readily available in that surrounding. Here are a few questions to consider; ‘What kind of spiritual environment are you in?’ ‘Does your environment encourage you to give your spirit the required nourishment?’ ‘What can you do to improve your diet while in that space?’.
Growth is a gradual process, therefore we need to be patient enough to successfully go through all the stages. Be willing to learn about each stage and work on it in humility and patience, steadily working towards spiritual maturity. Our human strength may fail us but God’s grace is abundant; consistently pray to the Lord for strength and grace.
According to Hebrews 5, mature Christians are those with experiences from which they’ve learnt how to distinguish good and from evil and harmful; and counsel ‘newer’ Christians on how to handle their challenges. What kind of counsel do you give those who come to you?
My final questions to you today are, What stage of spiritual development are you currently in? How are you progressing? Are there any amendments to be done concerning the way you’re navigating that stage?
Be sure to take out time to evaluate your spiritual development, pray to God and work on any necessary amendments.
Written by OLAJITAN DEBORAH
Hi Debbie, nice write up. I particularly like the way you compared the availability of nutritious foods in our physical environment to our spiritual environment.
Hence our spiritual growth is a function of what is available in our environment.
Well fortunately, we have some measure of control over that, now that we have all manner of Spiritual growth materials and resources online.
We now need to be intentional about taking them in, we still have to go for them, give attention to them in order for them to be a blessing and actually assis in our spiritual growth drive.
Blessings
PE
Beautiful illustration of importance a balanced diet for our spirit man- feed your spirit man with a balanced diet, not just what the Pastor preach. Thank you for bring up this challenge and great reminder.
Well done Deborah,
More grace.