This morning the Likens family had another milestone.\u00a0 Our middle son, Noah, lost his first tooth.\u00a0 Noah was so proud that he pulled it himself, albeit an accident I do believe.\u00a0 He came in to show his mommy and then he wanted her to show me.\u00a0 He came into the room eager to show off his wonderful, toothless smile.\u00a0 There are so many milestones that come and go in our lifetime, and each deserve to be celebrated.\u00a0 After all, it is a sign that you are growing up.\u00a0 But what about Christians, do we celebrate milestones in our spiritual life?<\/p>\n
In the Old Testament it was setting up memorials to remind the people and future generations of what God had done.\u00a0 I often encourage people to have a notebook to write in about their spiritual life.\u00a0 Write down the things that you are struggling with, the victories God has given you, and various other things in your life.\u00a0 Why do I do that?\u00a0 I really do it for two reasons.\u00a0 First, we forget things.\u00a0 We always say “I don’t need to write it down, I’ll remember it,” but we seldom remember all of the details, and they become lost forever.\u00a0 Secondly, it is a way to track your spiritual growth.\u00a0 I wonder how many of you remember your parents charting your height on a wall or a door post growing up?\u00a0 In 2 Peter 3:18 we read, “<\/b>But grow in grace, and in<\/i> the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be<\/i> glory both now and for ever. Amen.”\u00a0 Peter is telling us we need to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ.\u00a0 If we don’t chart it somehow, how will we know if we are doing it or not?\u00a0 Of course the simple answer is, we won’t.<\/p>\n
How do I know if I’m growing in Christ?\u00a0 One of the ways is that through the power of the Spirit working inside of you, things that you use to struggle with will no longer be as much of a struggle. Let’s say you have an anger problem.\u00a0 As you pray, study on anger, and how to deal with it, the Spirit begins to help you not blow up as often.\u00a0 That is a sign of spiritual growth.\u00a0 Another sign is a hunger to spend time with God.\u00a0 Unlike physical growth, spiritual growth doesn’t come natural.\u00a0 There must be a level of intentionality to it if it is going to happen.\u00a0 Another sign of spiritual growth is a forgiving attitude.\u00a0 The bottom line is, people are going to hurt you whether it be intentional or not, it is going to happen.\u00a0 You can’t control that, however you can control how you react to it. In short we can see our spiritual growth as we become more like Christ.\u00a0 Study the life of Christ, learn from Him, that is what He told us to do in Matthew 11, and then seek to imitate Him.\u00a0 Celebrate spiritual victories that Christ gives you, write them down, so the next time you are going through a difficult time, you can look back and see the faithfulness of God to get you through the last difficult time.\u00a0 That will give you a stronger faith that He again will get you through a difficult time.<\/p>\n
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This morning the Likens family had another milestone.\u00a0 Our middle son, Noah, lost his first tooth.\u00a0 Noah was so proud that he pulled it himself, albeit an accident I do believe.\u00a0 He came in to show his mommy and then … Read More