GROWTH IS NOT OPTIONAL

Growing in Christ is not optional for leaders; it is a biblical mandate. Why? Only growing Christians influence others for God. If you want to affect the hearts and minds of the next generation, your own heart must be growing and your own mind must be expanding.

You must heed the Bible's mandates to grow in Christ:

1. Grow a little every day. So we do not lose heart. Though our outward nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). Notice, Paul doesn’t say weekly, monthly, or yearly—he says "day by day." Every day there is this inner growth, this conforming to Christ, this being "transformed from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18). As leaders, we must continue to grow, press forward, mature, and become more like Christ until the day we die.

2. Fight the natural tendency to slow your growth as you age. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13–14). The most natural thing for all of us is to slow down, to lose our zest for learning, to lose our thirst for Christ and the knowledge of Christ. But here is Paul, a man in his sixties, pressing forward, looking forward.

3. Crave the Word of God. Like newborn infants, long for [or crave] the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation (1 Peter 2:2). Milk is the sustenance of life for a newborn baby. The sustenance we are to crave is the pure spiritual milk that is the Word of God, our only source for knowing Christ and the great truths of the gospel.

4. Model growth for your congregation—and don't stop! But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). People are like trees that grow their entire lives. There is no such thing as a full-grown tree—the day a tree stops growing, it starts to die. A leader is a learner who never stops growing. It has been said, “When you’re through improving, you are through as a leader.”

5. Remember that resisting growth makes you "dull of hearing." About this [Christ’s high priestly ministry] we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food (Heb. 5:11–12). What a terrible, awful thing it is for a Christian to be dull of hearing the Word of God, hearing God’s voice—but that's what happens when you refuse to grow.

Six Questions to Measure Your Spiritual Energy Level

To grow and to be a good leader you need energy—lots of it. Here are six ways to tell if you have it:

Do you get energy by growing and maturing in the knowledge of Christ?

Do you have fresh knowledge of Christ and the Scriptures?

Do you have fresh vision for the world and world missions?

Do you have fresh ideas?

Do you like to grow and press forward?

Do you like to change, or are you in a spiritual rut?

For more, check out part two of Alex Strauch's series on Personal Life and Growth => https://www.biblicaleldership.com/effectiveness/personal-life/personal-life-and-growth/personal-life-and-growth-2/