Growth

Acts 12:24 
Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers. (NLT)

I remember when I was growing up my mother would stand me in front of one of our door frames and using a ruler on top of my head she would mark the door frame and date it. By looking at all those marks and dates you could see the progress I was making year after year.

We do not have that kind of marking system for growth in God, in our relationship with Him. Often, even we cannot see where any change has occurred. Others who have not been with us for a long while notice, especially if they are non-believers.

Change does not occur because we will it to happen. Sure, we know what the Bible says about certain things. We think ourselves into doing right and kick ourselves when we don't. But this is not real change. How can we have the mind of Christ when we have to decide not to do what we know is wrong? I do not believe Jesus had to make those kinds of choices. As we get His mind in a particular area we never have to make that choice again.

Not too many years ago we would watch R movies and know we should not be subjecting ourselves to the language we were hearing. But we like the movies and made the choice to view them. Now we cannot watch them. If we happen upon one we have to turn it off. It actually offends us. We have changed. We no longer decide not to, we cannot.

What about church growth? Most have those marks on the wall in the form of a sign updated weekly for attendance and offering amounts. Growth is measured by how many come to the service. This is not bad, but is it measuring Kingdom growth? I think not.

We have gotten away from growing the Kingdom as we concentrate on growing our congregations. And most of that growth comes from other churches!

It is by spreading the Word of God that Kingdon growth occurs. And that does not happen in church. It happens because we have grown in Him. As we walk out into our communities giving to all we meet in some way, a smile, a hello!, a touch, serving in some way His light shines and we are able to speak about what Jesus has done in our lives. The result will be many new believers!