To Grow And Thrive

July/August 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

To Grow And Thrive

When babies are loved and cared for, they tend to grow and thrive. As years pass, the children are likely to display a character of what was shown to them. We can see this in many good ways, yet we can also see this in bad ways. For this reason a series of articles in the Family column, beginning this month, will seek to help in “Resolving Family Conflicts.” What parents or other responsible ones do and teach has a huge impact on the next generation.

Christians, who are children of God whether they have just committed their lives to the Lord or have been following Him for many years, need to be nurtured to grow and thrive too. One way this is done is by believers in an area being gathered in the Lord’s name (Mt. 18:20). In His presence, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, a message from God’s Word is to be shared for the edification, exhortation and consolation of the hearers (1 Cor. 14:3). Notice that one needs to be gathered with other believers to receive this blessing. Thereby, those present are built up, encouraged and comforted.

The Lord uses other ways to cause growth in His people as well. We can see similar effects occurring when He works with His people through trials. Hezekiah is one example in the Old Testament which we will consider, but there are many more for your personal study and instruction. This is often a personal work, done by God Himself for the blessing of His child.

In the ways of God, His work in a believer’s life is then to be used for the benefit of others. Paul summarizes the plan of Christ in this way: “We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:14-16 NKJV). Are you, in love, helping another Christian to grow and thrive?

By Paul Alberts