I recently wrote an article for Explore God titled “A Deeper Look at What the Bible Says About Spiritual Growth”. Explore God is a website that publishes credible content for people with spiritual questions and curiosities. Here is the conclusion to my article.
Richard Lovelace aptly observed that “self knowledge and self-fulfillment are considered to be the core of human achievement” when it comes to spiritual growth in contemporary religious and mainstream spirituality.41 He added, “The search for these goals has produced a lot of people who are at best self-preoccupied and at worst obnoxiously self-assertive.”42 That is, many routes to spiritual growth generate nervous self-concern or overabundant spiritual pride. But this need not be so. An honest assessment of one’s spiritual state and attempts at spiritual growth will lead to an awareness of one’s limits. While there may be many different spiritual paths today, the Christian gospel offers a uniquely satisfying road to spiritual growth.
Because Christian spiritual growth is focused and dependent on God’s gracethrough Jesus Christ, the gospel allows one to avoid self-occupation and insufferable self-assertion. Christians may avoid nervousness and pride in spiritual growth by returning to the good news of Jesus—namely, that they are secure in their spiritual status before God based on Jesus’ work alone, not their own. The gospel is the true foundation of spiritual growth. Rooted firmly in the gospel, spiritual growth proceeds through the power of the Holy Spirit, directed by prayerful Bible reading within the context of a robust church community.
I encourage you to read the whole thing here.
DR. MATT CAPPS 