No Such Thing as Spiritual Growth

"He who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” 1 Corinthians 6:17

Spiritual growth is something we all feel like we experience, but it's not literally what's happening. What's happening is the renewing of the mind. I think maturity is just having our minds so set on what God says that we just can't listen to any other way of thinking. Mature believers just don't get tossed around as much. They don't have bigger spirits or better spirits or stronger spirits. They simply have their minds more consistently in harmony with the Spirit of God joined as one with their spirits within them.

How's that for a title that grabs you by the religion? No such thing as spiritual growth? I know, some of you are thinking..."I knew this guy was a heretic...now I have my proof!" Well, read on and you'll see I'm just saying what the New Testament says.

Actually, I'm straightening out a misnomer that I guess the discipleship movement gave birth to in the early twentieth century. The idea of spiritual growth comes from the encouragement the apostles gave early believers to grow to maturity in their faith. In a very general sense, it means to gain consistency, and experience in ministry.

The issue isn't that this process not called "spiritual growth" in the Bible, though it's not...correct me if I'm wrong. The issue is that the term creates a very substantial misunderstanding. You see, the New Testament teaches that our spirit and God's Spirit have become one Spirit within us. We are also taught that our inner man has been re-born and re-created in Christ.

Those three truths do not leave room for a growing, changing, improving spirit. Those ideas demand that we see our spirit as constant. After all, God's Spirit is constant. God doesn't get weak or tired; doesn't get hungry if we don't feed Him, and God's Spirit could never be immature. Therefore, God's Spirit cannot grow, and since we are one in spirit with Him, neither can ours.

These misunderstandings are what I call "doctrines of applied experience." We take something we have experienced and search the Bible for a verse that will explain it, and then decide that must be the truth of the matter.

Case in point: we feel less spiritual the days we don't read our Bible, so we assume that's because our spirit must be weak due to a lack of spiritual food. Makes sense, no? No. The truth is, we feel less spiritual the days we don't read our Bible simply because our minds are not set on the Spirit, but on the flesh, and Paul told the Romans they'd be walking dead if they did that.

We see a new believer change rapidly and we assume it's because his spirit is growing. However, God doesn't grow. We didn't get the eight pound six ounce Jesus when we were born again. We got the mature, risen, glorified King of Kings, like the one in Revelation, and if our spirits are one with Him, how can that spirit get any stronger or more mature?

More importantly, when we go through something tough, we come out on the other side feeling spiritually stronger, and we assume it's because our spirit actually grew because the trial gave it exercise. Makes sense, no? No. The fact is that God's Spirit within you became much more real to you because every day of that difficult situation forced you to set your mind on Him, to look to Him, to walk in intimate communication with Him; and when you do that, you feel the strength of God.

This brings us to why this is such an important point. When you're going through that trial, you need to know that every moment, no matter how you feel, no matter how weak you are---He is strong. If you never read your Bible, He's still the same. When you are weak, you are strong. The power, grace, love, joy, peace and wisdom you need already reside in the unchanging Spirit of God within you. When life is hard, you need to know that.

Additionally, you need to know that when you fail, when you fall, when you just get lazy or depressed...He doesn't. He doesn't change, so your spirit is always as strong as it ever was. You don't have to go through a restoration process or build yourself back up. You may need to re-train your mind to stop thinking stupid thoughts and start focusing on God, but your spirit is not affected one single bit...ever. God never changes. God never changes. God never changes.

Spiritual growth is something we all feel like we experience, but it's not literally what's happening. What's happening is the renewing of the mind. I think maturity is just having our minds so set on what God says that we just can't listen to any other way of thinking. Mature believers just don't get tossed around as much. They don't have bigger spirits or better spirits or stronger spirits. They simply have their minds more consistently in harmony with the Spirit of God joined as one with their spirits within them.

References: 1 Corinthians 6, John 1, 3, 2 Corinthians 3,5,12, Ephesians 1, 4, Romans 4,5,6,7,8,12 Galatians 2, 5, Hebrews 12, 1 John 4