{"id":461,"date":"2011-03-04T14:33:58","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T14:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/?p=461"},"modified":"2013-12-30T17:18:55","modified_gmt":"2013-12-30T17:18:55","slug":"8-characteristics-of-a-growing-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=461","title":{"rendered":"8 Characteristics of a Growing Christian"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"th\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As we head into a new year it is good to reflect and plan.\u00a0 One area to reflect on and plan for is your spiritual life.<\/p>\n

We are all in process, either growing or declining, and that includes our spiritual life.\u00a0 The power to grow doesn’t come from within us, but from God.\u00a0 On our own, we do not have what it takes to become what God desires for us to become.\u00a0 When we absolutely surrender to God, He empowers us with everything we need to do what He calls us to do.\u00a0 In 2 Peter 1:5-11 we see a ladder to climb that leads to maturity or the process we should be working on.\u00a0 Spiritual growth happens daily, not in a day.<\/p>\n

Peter tells us to diligently work on these eight characteristics:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Faith – <\/em>This is the foundation on which we build and grow.\u00a0 Faith is having confidence and trusting in someone or something.\u00a0 Determining who we put our faith in lays the foundation for our lives.<\/li>\n
  2. Virtue – <\/em>This is about developing a life of strong character and discipline.\u00a0 Another word used in some translations is good.\u00a0 This step is about being a good person, developing your character and integrity.<\/li>\n
  3. Knowledge – <\/em>This is when we start to understand what God thinks and values.\u00a0 This is done by reading, studying and listening to God’s Word.<\/li>\n
  4. Self-control – <\/em>This is the ability to lead ourselves, to have self-control means having restraint with our actions, responses and emotions.<\/li>\n
  5. Perseverance – <\/em>This is the ability to patiently stick to what is right.\u00a0 Hanging in there through the tough, difficult things of life.\u00a0 It’s being patient with the process and trusting that God is at work in us and others.<\/li>\n
  6. Godliness – <\/em>This is a Spirit-filled lifestyle that shines brightly for all to see.\u00a0 Living a holy, righteous life.\u00a0 Not easily offended and not afraid to let others see how we live our lives.\u00a0 This is not putting on a religious mask, but taking that mask off and really living for God.\u00a0 It’s not being perfect, it’s pursuing God even when we are not perfect.<\/li>\n
  7. Brotherly Kindness – <\/em>This is all about living a lifestyle that is warm, relational, and caring.\u00a0 Notice this actually comes after godliness, because this is about how we interact and relate to other people.\u00a0 Deeply caring about people and treating other people well.<\/li>\n
  8. Love – <\/em>This is the highest quality that we can have.\u00a0 It is about sacrificially giving to others.\u00a0 Loving God and others well, deeply and sincerely.\u00a0 In order to love the way God wants us to love we must go through the entire process first.\u00a0 If we try to jump right to love, we will miss what God is trying to do in us and we won’t be able to sustain it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These actions do not come automatically, they require actual hard work and effort.\u00a0 These are not optional, but a continual part of our everyday lives.\u00a0 We do not work on one master it and move on to the next, we work on them all together.\u00a0 In this process, God enables us to grow in these areas, but He also gives us responsibility along the way to learn and grow.\u00a0 When we agree with God and do our part, that is when life transformation happens.<\/p>\n

    So as you plan for the new year, include these characteristics in your planning.\u00a0 Which of those areas do you need to most help with?\u00a0 At the end of this next year will you still be in the same place spiritually or will you be more like Christ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As we head into a new year it is good to reflect and plan.\u00a0 One area to reflect on and plan for is your spiritual life. We are all in process, either growing or declining, and that includes our spiritual life.\u00a0 The power to grow doesn’t come from within us, but from God.\u00a0 On our … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “8 Characteristics of a Growing Christian”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-character","category-personal-growth","category-spiritual-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1357,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/1357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}