Resources for spiritual growth available for every believer

By David L. Chancey
Pastor

During last year’s Super Bowl, FedEx ran a commercial that was a take-off of the movie “Cast Away” starring Tom Hanks. Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane crashed, leaving Hanks stranded on a desert island for years. The Hanks-looking character in the commercial walks up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand.

When the lady comes to the door, the FedEx employee explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during his entire time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She takes the package and gives a simple, “Thank you.”

His curiosity gets the best of him, however, as he wonders what was in the package that he has guarded so carefully for five years. He asks, “If I may ask, what was in the package after all?”

She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, “Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds.”

Like the contents in the package, the resources for spiritual growth and personal enrichment are available to every one of us if we’ll take advantage of them. We need to understand how spiritual growth works.

Spiritual growth is expected, but not always pursued. God expects us to grow and develop. He doesn’t want us to remain as children, but to grow up. Unfortunately, too many people grow old physically but do not grow up spiritually.

Spiritual growth is progressive and never finished. Growth is not instant, but is a process that takes time. We never arrive at maturity on this side of eternity. There is always more to learn.

Spiritual growth is a partnership between you and God. God does His part, but we must do our part. God’s part is working in us to shape us into the image of His Son Jesus. Our part is to take seriously the disciplines and practices that assist our progress.

Spiritual growth is not automatic, but must be intentional. In “The Purpose Driven Life,” Rick Warren writes, “You must want to grow, decide to grow, make an effort to grow, and persist in growing.” We must desire growth enough to want to feed our souls.

So how do we feed our souls and make the effort to grow? We start with reading and studying the Bible. God speaks to us and shapes our thinking through the truth of His living Word, the Bible. The Bible is more than a bestseller, more than a collection of stories, more than a doctrinal guidebook. The Bible is the spiritual nurture that you must have to grow. Scripture refers to the Bible as our spiritual milk and says that as newborn babes crave milk and nourishment, we must desire the word of God so we can grow up.

Also, commit to a small Bible study group. This is where you connect with people who know your name and support you in time of need. This is where we lean on each other and learn from each other.

In addition, as we learn God’s Word, we also must apply God’s Word. Don’t just read it. Do it and implement it into your life. Also, practice prayer. Prayer is simple conversation with God. Pour your heart out to God and then watch for God to work in your life and circumstances.

Also, make corporate worship a priority every Sunday you’re in town. Worship should be more than a Sunday morning option. It should be an every-week commitment. You’ll pick up a lot of spiritual nurture by sitting under the consistent preaching and teaching of God’s Word.

A man wrote a letter to the editor of his newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now and in that time I’ve heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So I think I’m wasting my time.”

Several days later, a reader responded with this letter: “I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me strength I needed to live that day. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be much weaker today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be much weaker today.”

We pick up more than we think we do, don’t we? As you grow older physically, what are you doing to grow up spiritually?

(Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor of McDonough Road Baptist Church, 352 McDonough Road in Fayetteville. Join them this Sunday for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m.)