In conversation a colleague remarked about certain members of his church, "They are just beautiful, growing Christians!" Although such a comment is not unique, it im­pressed me. Peter in the passage just quoted is speaking of such growth. Right after we were born as babies we began to grow. That normal growing process continues for perhaps eighteen or twenty years. We should grow similarly in a spiritual way. Most of us who are Christians, perhaps became children of God, or were "born again," early in our lives. After that the Lord wanted us to grow in our faith.          

There are a few important differences between physical and spiritual growth. Our physical growth may be almost involuntary. Regarding spiritual growth, we have a respon­sibility. We must, by the grace of God, do something about that. Our physical growth occurs only in the early years of our lives and usually ceases when we get to be eighteen or twenty. Our spiritual growth should continue as long as we live. Even when we become old we may still be far from full-grown Christians. Real maturity will come only when we arrive in heaven.

Spiritual growth is a common concern in the Bible. The Apostle Paul speaks of being strengthened in the faith, of growing up into Christ (Ephesians 4:15), and of being "rooted and built up in him" (Colossians 2:7). Psalm 84 speaks of saints going "from strength to strength" until they reach Zion. Christian parents ought to be more mature than their children or grandchildren. At fifty it should be evident that we have grown since we were twenty-five or thirty years old.

As fall comes and schools open their doors, the churches' normal winter activities usually also begin. People commonly begin to read more extensively in the winter months than in the summer. Although the farmer considers the summer his growing season, our spiritual growing season may be the winter. At least, we should try to make it so by engaging in church activities and studying the Bible and other Chris­tian literature.

Peter says that we must grow in our salvation. As a kernel of grain must grow into a new plant, Christians, given new hearts in regeneration, must grow up to become mature peo­ple of God. Salvation means to be delivered from the greatest evil and granted the highest good. Our Christian growth should produce increasing enjoyment of this deliverance and increasing evidence of it in the way we live.

Real Christian growth usually involves an increasing awareness of our sins and failures. It also includes a grow­ing reliance on the forgiving love of God in the atonement of Christ our Lord. With this goes a growing amazement at the covenant faithfulness of God. Paul in writing to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:15) characterized himself as the "chief" of sinners, using the present tense. That awareness made the grace of Christ appear the more surprising. Accordingly too, the Christian is to grow in his hope, grounded in God's promises for the future. In the meanwhile, such a growing faith will produce the present fruits of Christian virtues: humility and godliness; love for God, the fellow-Christian and the neighbor; a greater appreciation of spiritual things and a corresponding less preoccupation with material things.

As minister, I have seen beautifully growing Christians whose homes it was a pleasure to visit. I have also en­countered others of whom the opposite was true.

How can we grow in salvation? Babies grow by drinking milk. That includes all of the nourishment that the babies' bodies need in the early months of their lives. But it has to be good milk. Alluding to that as an illustration, Peter speaks of the "pure spiritual milk" of God's Word. Some older versions suggest that this is "unadulterated" milk of the Word. It must be only God's Word and nothing else — no substitutes and certainly not the "word of man." Only God's inerrant and infallible Word can nourish real Christians. This is needed in the preaching of our churches, the teaching of our schools, the devotions of our homes. It is needed in every area of our lives.

As "newborn babies" we are instructed to "crave" this kind of food. How eager babies are to receive their bottles or the milk of their mothers! We are incited to long for the Word of God with that kind of eagerness.

While a baby naturally desires food, the Christian is in­structed to cultivate such eagerness for the Word of God. We must work at it. We must discipline our minds and wills to do it.

Psalm 119 expresses such eager enthusiasm about the Word and law of God.

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your work (vv. 14-16).

My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times (v. 20).

How little such eagerness appears in many churches to­day. And there is accordingly little evident Christian growth.

Many Christians consider that the all-important question is whether one has received Christ as Savior and is prepared to die. The Scriptures plainly teach that we must not only believe in Christ, but must also grow in faith and godly liv­ing. Those who believe in and obediently serve Him in life will be prepared to meet Him at death.

There is a common complaint about the lethargy apparent in the lives of church members and churches, as many con­fess their faith and pay their budgets, but in their way of liv­ing are, for the most part, indistinguishable from the unbelievers around them. Many show little or no interest in the church (either the life of the local church or the course taken by its denomination). They are not interested in spiritual growth or in the Word of God by which we must grow. If in a family a baby showed no growth for a whole year wouldn't parents be disturbed and seek medical advice? A church leader observed that 95% of the church throughout our country is woefully anemic. Another observed that "the church is alarmingly ill. But the worst part of it is that she doesn't even know it."

We live in a society that is becoming increasingly estranged from the Bible. Even in its churches there is growing denial of or questioning of the Bible's inerrancy and infallibility, and a corresponding indifference to it and ignorance of it.

In such an atmosphere, it becomes the more urgent that we resolve to honor God's Word for what it is and prayer­fully and systematically study it. We need to have it faithfully preached in the churches and faithfully attend churches where that is done. And we need to accompany and support such church direction with daily devotions in our homes in which God's Word takes a central place. Maintaining such family devotions may become difficult when members of the family are involved in many diverse activities, but it is too impor­tant to neglect. Perhaps we need to get up earlier in the morning to provide the time needed to begin our days with family devotions around God's Word.

We must develop a hunger for God's Word that is com­parable to a baby's desire for milk. That is the way to Chris­tian growth in knowledge of God and in salvation. Such growth produces the virtues of love, joy and peace. That is the way we should become "beautiful, growing Christians."