The nurse asks me how I am feeling and takes my vitals, but the objective of each check-up is to find out how much the baby is moving and growing. Too little progress is concerning, and would necessitate further study and action.
Even as children, our visits to the doctor are intended to measure and record our growth. But at some point, we stop physically growing. The doctor knows that we have reached our peak height, so they no longer need to measure and record our progress.
May this not ever be the model of our spiritual growth! It would be so easy to fall into complacency with our spiritual maturity when we reach physical maturity, but there is so much more to learn, to ingest, to teach, and to demonstrate. Just as our doctors tracked and analyzed our physical growth while we were younger, we should seek honest evaluations of our spiritual growth through prayer, self-reflection, and accountability with other believers. Too little progress in our spiritual growth is just as concerning, and should alert us to the need for further study and action.
Spiritual growth does not look the same for everyone, and is quite difficult to measure, as there is not a standard scale or classification system. Rather, our spiritual growth is defined by our dedication to the Lord's purposes over all else, our desire to know Him more every day, our selfless love demonstrated to others, our connection to the Lord's heart, and our complete surrender of all that we are and have to the One who created us in the first place. (This is an incomplete list, but these are the qualities that are currently relevant.)
It is just as important (if not more so) for us to pray that our little Squirt grows big and strong spiritually as it is that he grows big and strong physically. The doctors think his physical growth is crucial enough for them to check it every other week...do we evaluate our own spiritual lives that frequently?
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