Are You Growing?

One of the projects on my to do list is to transfer all of my old High 8 videos to my hard drive. My wife and I have two girls, so we have videos of holidays, birthdays, and various other special occasions.

The videos are displayed on my laptop as they are being transferred, so naturally I find myself glued to the screen watching what I put on tape. First thing I discovered is that I am not a very good video recorder. I am a little shaky and move the camera a little too fast at times. Oh well, at least I captured that moment. Right?

As I am writing this post, my youngest daughter is thirteen years old. Knowing her now and watching her when she was three shows the amount of growth she has experienced. When she was three, everything was about her. During one of the Christmas videos, she kept wanting more and more presents. She struggled with the idea that some of the presents were for others. I will be honest in saying that I was a little embarrassed watching that tape. I asked myself, “Did she really behave that way?”

She is a completely different person now. She is one of the most generous, caring people I know. While at church, she will go out of her way to give hugs to older ladies. She will spend time talking with them. While other kids will walk right past these ladies, my daughter takes the time to acknowledge them. As a dad, that makes me very proud.

Luke 2:25 tells us, “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.” Wow, did you catch that? The most influential man to ever walk the face of the earth, Jesus, God in flesh, “grew in wisdom and in stature.” What does that say about our need to grow?

As a follower of Christ, He is the ultimate example of how I am supposed to be living my life. He is my target. Now, I will be the first to admit that I will never be able to achieve the same levels of anything that He did. But, that is not supposed to stop me. I am to be constantly “growing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.”

This is a huge endeavor. One that requires an honest evaluation of how I am approaching and living my life. I will be honest, I struggle with this at times. In fact, sometimes, I struggle daily. Having Christ as my example and growing in order to become more like Him goes against my selfish core. Can you relate?

Thankfully we are not alone. There is hope! Before Jesus ascended, He told His disciples, in John 16, that He would send the Comforter (the Holy Spirit). One of the jobs of the Comforter is to come alongside of us and assist us in becoming more Christlike. He will help us overcome our natural selfish tendencies. What at tremendous blessing to have a helper!

Just like I was proud watching how much my thirteen year old daughter has grown, I can’t help but think that God is proud watching us grow too. If you are struggling to become more Christlike, don’t give up, seek the guidance of the Comforter. He will come alongside of you and help you overcome you.

In what ways are you growing in Christ?