Spiritual growth is not simply increasing flawlessness, but increasing Christlikeness. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." John 9:5. He also said, "You are the light of the world." Matthew 5:14. It is clear that the desire of Jesus was that His followers become like Him.

Peter wrote of Jesus, "...and coming to Him as to a living stone..." I Peter 2:4 In the very next verse, Peter wrote, "You also as living stones, are being built up..." I Peter 2:5 Again, it is clear that the apostle considered our task to become more like Christ every day. As we grow, we become aware of a growing Christlikeness. There is a growing desire to be like Him rather than a stabbing sense of guilt. It is living His life after Him. Did you notice, in verse five, that Peter said, "You are being built up..." This is the process.

In John 15:10 Jesus described for us the pattern of spiritual growth:

"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. John 15:10

Spiritual growth is keeping Jesus' commandments just as He kept His Father's commandments. It is to abide in Him just as He abides in His Father. Spiritual growth is increasingly doing what we see Jesus doing; being what we see Him being. Hebrews tells us that Jesus is an exact representation of the Father. God revealed Himself by sending Jesus to us. As we grow spiritually, people should be able to look at our lives and understand something of who Jesus is and what He is like.

We have all heard people say, "I want to be more humble" or "I want to be more loving..." We cannot make ourselves more humble. We can become more and more like Jesus and we will become more humble and loving in the process. Spiritual growth is a byproduct of becoming like Jesus. We tend to treat it like a goal for our lives.

People often want to mature to the point where spiritual growth will not be a struggle. They long for a time when temptation will not be a consuming preoccupation. This usually grows out of fear that they will fail in the temptation. Through spiritual growth, God seeks to increase our sensitivity to His will. He seeks to recreate His likeness in us. This happens as we open ourselves to His cleansing, changing presence rather than mounting our own super-human efforts to achieve new heights of spiritual maturity on our own.

Spiritual growth is becoming more and more like Jesus. He said,

"If you have seen me you have seen the father." John 14:9

It is to become increasingly like Jesus so that when people see your life, they will know something of what Jesus is like.

Spiritual growth is not a series of acts, but a process. The New Testament describes this process in at least two different ways. It shows in the tense of the verbs. Most of the New Testament exhortations are in the Present Indicative Active form. I Timothy 6:11 reads as follows:

But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11

Almost every exhortation to spiritual growth is a command. Because this verse is in the Present Indicative Active form, it might better be translated, "Pursue and keep on pursuing righteousness, pursue and keep on pursuing godliness, pursue and keep on pursuing faith, pursue and keep on pursuing love, pursue and keep on pursuing perseverance, pursue and keep on pursuing patience, pursue and keep on pursuing gentleness..." This is a process we begin and never complete in this life. We daily attempt, with God's help, to improve upon our Christlike way of thinking and acting.

The second way in which the New Testament describes this process is in the way the instructions are given. Observe the way the apostle describes this phenomenon.

Tribulation produces steadfastness; and steadfastness produces approvedness; and approvedness produces hope and hope putteth not to shame. Romans 5:3

In effect, Paul was saying that spiritual growth involves a number of steps. When you, as a Christian, encounter tribulation, it becomes the foundation upon which steadfastness is built. Without tribulation, there will be no expression of steadfastness. Each spiritual quality grows out of the one which precedes it and becomes the foundation for the one which follows.

You encounter something of the same nature in the writings of Peter. II Peter 1:5. In effect, Peter said, "Fill up or complete your faith with moral excellence, moral excellence will find its completeness as you add knowledge. Knowledge will be filled to the top as you add self-control. Self-control will find completeness as you add patience. Patience will find its maturity as you add godliness. Godliness reaches its completeness as you add brotherly kindness. Brotherly kindness becomes full grown as you add agape love.

We would like to initiate spiritual growth and be done with it. If we think about this, our reason is often a simple one. We are afraid we will fail, so we want to do it and get it behind us.

Spiritual growth is a process of discovery. Look at the declaration of Paul. (Philippians 3:10) He said, "That I may know..." three times. In effect, he was saying, "That I may know Him, that I may know the power of His resurrection, that I may know the fellowship of His sufferings." There are a number of words which are translated "know" in the English text.

Paul used the former word to describe the process. Paul wants to begin and never cease discovering who Jesus is and what He is like.

The form of the word also stresses this process. In effect, Paul said, "That I may know or discover and keep on knowing... " In verses 12 and 14, Paul continued this description. In both verses Paul literally said, "I press on and keep on pressing on."

Spiritual growth is a divine activity, not a Herculean, human effort. Paul used words that resonate in the heart of each one of us when he wrote:

"O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord..." Romans 7:24, 25

We cooperate in the process, but God, through the sacrifice of Jesus, is the author of all spiritual growth.

Someone has said that spiritual growth is a lot like climbing a mountain - climb up three steps and slide back two. This is still a net gain of one. One might say that spiritual growth is a progressive return to the qualities with which our first parents were created. In these qualities, our first parents were equipped to relate to God in a positive fashion.

Exodus chapter 33 gives us a different glimpse of spiritual growth and maturity. Moses set up a tent in which to meet with God. When Moses went into the tent, every man in Israel worshiped at his tent door. Out of this grew one of the deepest, strongest relationships between Moses, Israel and God. Spiritual growth is a growing personal relationship with God. In this relationship, God said,

"My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. And he said to him, ‘If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.’" Exodus 33:14, 15

This is the picture of spiritual growth you find throughout the New Testament as well. In effect, Moses was saying, "It would be great to go to the land of promise, but if God’s presence is not with them, he would rather not go." That is the very nature of spiritual growth and maturity. This being the case, we must measure spiritual growth not by how our spiritual qualities have increased, but rather by how much our relationship with God has intensified.

Spiritual growth is the progression from reluctant adherence to what we see as harsh standards to the point where we realize that God’s purpose in His demands is actually for our blessing and not for His austere control of every detail of our lives. God punished Israel in order to draw them to Himself rather than to vent His wrath. This is the whole story of Judges.

The writer to the Hebrews draws a parallel between the physical and spiritual infant to describe what spiritual growth is. As the physical infant needs milk to grow, so the spiritual infant needs to feed on the rudiments of the faith. Physical infants progress from milk to meat. The spiritual infant moves from the rudiments of the faith to full growth in following the example of Jesus and of those who in oppression cling to faith and stand true to God in patience.

Very often, our idea of spiritual growth is to try harder. The biblical model is just the opposite. Spiritual growth takes place when God's invincible power encounters our burning desire to become more like Him. Spiritual growth can be measured not so much by our closeness to perfection and flawlessness as by the measure of our growing personal relationship with God.

Unfortunately, in some areas of the Church, people are content to be forgiven of their sins. They give no attention whatsoever to spiritual growth. This is to totally miss the message of the New Testament.

There is no single prescription for spiritual growth. There are several lists of the ingredients of spiritual growth in the New Testament. These are qualities, characteristics which will enable us to become more Christlike. If you look at these lists, however, you will notice that they do not appear in the same order in the different lists. You will also notice that they do not contain the same spiritual ingredients. We need to remember that both Peter and Paul wrote these lists. They were not writing to the same audiences. They were not trying to give a complete list, but rather speaking to the spiritual needs of the particular church to which they were writing that epistle.