Whether you are a new Christian or an old one, you never stop the process of spiritual maturity. A Christian who is committed to Christ is going to grow.
Progressing Through the Levels of Growth- A significant passage on spiritual growth is 1 John 2:13-14. It discusses three stages of spiritual growth:
(1) babies (2) young men (3) fathers.
These stages correspond to human life.
(1)The beginning is infancy--there is parental recognition.
(2)Then there is young adulthood--the time when you know what you believe. In spiritual maturity the young man has the ability to comprehend doctrine and the Word of God. He has his feet on the ground; he is not "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine..." (Eph. 4:14)
(3) Finally, there is fatherhood. The spiritual father not only knows what he believes in, but he knows the One in whom he believes in a deep, abiding, and mature way.
THE GOAL OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY
The process of spiritual growth is an ascension toward the goal of knowing God. The Apostle Paul continued in the process of spiritual growth even though he had reached a high level. At the height of his life and ministry--when he had accomplished the great dreams and desires of his heart--he said his goal was "That I may know him..." (Phil. 3:10). In other words, no matter how far he had gone, he still longed for a deeper, broader, more vital and fulfilling comprehension of the very God he loved and served.
THE LIFE OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY
Christians move through the three stages of spiritual growth by the (1)Word of God, (2)the Spirit of God, and in (3)response to the command of God. And the key is this: Christians can only grow when they are living to the glory of God. When they live for themselves, nothing positive will occur. Growth will only take place when Christians are spiritual, not carnal, and when they are living for the glory of God, not for themselves.
After Christians have been saved, there is a balancing act that is carried on. We have new life in us, but we also have our old sin nature around us--the sin that's in our flesh. A believer finds that a part of his life is given to God, and a part to sin. But as he matures, there is an increasing frequency of righteousness and a decreasing frequency of sinfulness. There isn't a time in your Christian life that you stop being sinful and are always righteous; the Christian life is always a progression. Paul says, "Not as though I had already attained.... I press toward the mark..." (Phil. 3:12, 14).
The evidence of your progression is a decreasing frequency of sin.
When I was saved, I faced the struggle that Paul talks about in Romans 7:15-23. The things I wanted to do, I didn't do; and the things I didn't want to do, I did. I was fighting against the flesh. The struggle is still the same, but with one difference. As I have progressed in spiritual maturity by living to the glory of God, walking in the Holy Spirit, and living a life of obedience, I have seen the decrease of the frequency of sinfulness, but not its absence. I just don't sin as much as I used to as I have grown toward a more righteous standard.
