God did not design us to be stagnant.  He created us to start as embryos, then grow inside our mothers’.  After we’re born, we start out as little babies, then grow into children, who mature into adults.

We see this in our spiritual lives, too.  Hebrews 5:12-14 (ESV) says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.  You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

This is saying that as we start our Christian journeys, we’ll need to be spoon-fed basic principles from the Bible.  As we grow in our faith, however, we’ll be able to learn more on our own, and God will reveal deeper Truths to us through His Holy Spirit.

God wants us to grow.  Growth can be hard and painful (shall we revisit the childbirth analogy?) but we always come out stronger.

As I was praying about what to include in this newsletter, Noah came to mind in terms of growth.  (You can read Noah’s full story in Genesis 5:28 – 9:29.)

Noah was just an average man.  Yet he and his family remained righteous in a time of much evil.  God set him and his family apart to save them from a flood that would wipe the evil away.  Noah and his family would have to start the world’s population over.

Think of all the growth Noah would have had to go through.  

First, he would have had to grow in his relationship with God in order to become this man of righteousness.  The Bible doesn’t go into detail about how Noah was raised, but we do know he was the great-grandson of Enoch, the only man in the Bible who was known to have “walked with God” (Genesis 5:24), and one of two men who never died, but was taken straight to Heaven (Genesis 5:24).

Then physically, Noah would have learned how to build a boat.  I don’t know what Noah did for a living before, but lifting the heavy beans would have developed his muscles.  His brain would have learned how to build the boat (God did give him directions, but he still would have had to learn).

Noah went through a lot of growth.

When we grow, we reach new heights.  We learn new things, gain new abilities, and are able to see God in new, deeper ways.  Growth changes us in beautiful ways.

Even if the growth hurts, it’s always worth it.

And if there’s a way I can pray for you as you grow, please just let me know!