“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever.”
We are reminded in this text, and in many other texts, that we need to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ. As the text suggests, when we grow we bring glory to Christ; when we fail to grow we fail to bring glory to Him. I want to share what I call “Three Pitfalls to Christian Growth.” Disappointment We fail to grow when we are overcome with disappointment. It begins with disappointment with ourselves. It might begin because we get involved with some sin, and we know that we have let the Lord down. Seeking the Lord’s forgiveness and accepting it when He gives it would remedy this. If He is not disappointed in us, we should not be disappointed in ourselves. We are often disappointed with our fellow Christians. This is the point at which we need to practice forgiving other people instead of holding ill-will and grudges. Unfortunately, we are sometimes disappointed with God when we think that He failed us in some way. At this point, we just need to accept His will and move on, for He does not make mistakes. Discouragement Disappointments can lead to discouragement. Frankly, we need to get discouraged when we are self-absorbed. I’m not really preaching to you about this, I have seen this same thing in myself. We need to get our minds and eyes off of ourselves and put them on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are discouraged it is not because of anything that the Jesus has done. We get discouraged and let it hold us down when we are not listening to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. He will encourage us through reminding us of our weaknesses and encouraging us in our strengths. If you are discouraged you did that to yourself. Get up off of it! Defeat Disappointment and discouragement can lead to defeat. Football coaches are always giving pep talks to keep their players from feeling, or being, defeated. Quite often defeat is in our minds and hearts. When the feeling of defeat, and living in defeat, is always in our minds and hearts and we need the encouragement of scripture and prayer. We also need the fellowship, and friendship, of our Christian brothers and sisters to encourage us. Be aware of these pitfalls to your growth and take them to the Lord. Do it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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