Lucius Josephs’ Blog

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Measuring our Spiritual growth

How can our spiritual growth be measured? Is it possible to measure it as we are able to measure our physical growth?

We are told that, “God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence [virtue], by which he has granted to us His precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature” (2Pet.1:2-4)..

The objective for human life is to develop God’s divine nature. It is to rid the body of sin, so that the body can become the spiritual temple of God, and our everlasting dwelling.

The growth and development of the new spirit man is, “In knowledge after the image of its Creator” And therefore we are admonished to, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. (Col.3:10; 2Pet.3:18).

All of God’s promises to us are to His praise and glory. They are all contained in the glory and virtue [excellence] of Jesus Christ which we are to emulate and share, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2Cor. 1:20). Therefore, because of God’s promises, “We are to purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2Cor.7:1).

In order to be able to measure our spiritual development, we need to clearly define what is glory and virtue. We ought not to be afraid of examining ourselves. In fact, the exhortation is to, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves; that Jesus Christ is in you? - Unless you are disqualified. (2Cor.13:5-6).

Glory, the desired end for which we have been justified, called, and predestined is:-

1. A distinctive feature; the highest pinnacle or distinction. A trait, which distinguishes something above the rest; splendor, honor, fullness of perfection, radiant beauty, magnificence.
2. It is the pinnacle of God’s majestic powers, His awesome beauty, His unsearchable knowledge, His indescribable wisdom, His holiness, His amazing strength, and His perfect love.
3. The developing state which follows salvation (2 Tim. 2:10; Rom. 2: 7, 10).
4. A transformation by the Holy Spirit, dependent on the individual’s assessment of the Lord’s glory. (2Cor. 3:18). The level of one’s glory is dependent on the degree in which Christ is formed or magnified in the individual. (Col.1:27; Gal. 4:19; Phil. 1: 20; 2Cor. 4:10-11).
5. A developing state as a result of suffering [not wrongfully] but as a Christian. Considered to be greater than all present sufferings (Rom. 5:3; Rom. 8:18; Heb. 2:9-11, 1 Pet.4:12-16; 2Cor. 4;17;
6. The future state of all those who will appear with Jesus Christ at His return (Col.3:4).

God has called us to His eternal glory, as it is written, “To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our lord Jesus Christ” (2Thes. 2:14; 1 Pet. 5:10).

Since we have been called to God’s eternal glory, and we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another, depending on the image of the glory we have before us. What sort of image do we have before us, and how does the image of God’s glory manifest itself?

The Prophet Ezekiel in describing the glory of God wrote; “Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezek.1:28).

The rainbow is the sign of the covenant God made between Himself and man, and every living creature that is with man. In fact it is God’s perpetual covenant with the earth (Gen. 9:12-17).

The rainbow with its seven splendid colors depicts the seven attributes which when formulated together, produced the divine nature of God which is love. (1Jn.4:8)

The seven colors of the rainbow which depicts the glory of God are:-

1. Red - depicting our precious life we give in service to God and planet earth. It is the service of brotherly kindness
2. Orange- depicting godliness, our moral and virtuous living, by abstaining from what is evil, and be obedient to the word.
3. Yellow - depicting the genuineness of our faith which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1Pet.1:7).
4. Green – depicting perseverance/ patience, a by-product from the testing of faith. Because, “The testing of faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-3).
5. Blue – depicting the color of a clear blue sky, reflecting godly divine knowledge.
6. Indigo – depicting self control, standing between knowledge and virtue.
7. Violet – depicting virtue, which is the application of godly knowledge, with sacrificial love.

Virtue is more than simple moral goodness. It is a source of inner strength/power, by which the moral goodness is executed. It is the power which exercises or executes faith (Mk.5:30; Lk.6:19; Lk.8:46),

These seven traits as depicted by the colors of the rainbow, forms the composition of love, and therefore we should make every effort to add to our faith goodness; and to goodness knowledge; and to knowledge; self control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For, “If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is short-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” (2Pet.1:5-9).

Our spiritual growth can also be measured by our relationship with the world. For whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4). We are therefore admonished saying; “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world” (1Jn.2:15-17).

Spiritual growth can also be measured by one’s zeal and desire to worship and fellowship with God and His son Jesus Christ, by fellow-shipping with one another at God’s appointed times, known as holy convocation, and ascribing to the Lord the glory due to his name, bringing with us a pure offering, and worshiping the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

May the eyes of our spiritual understanding be enlighten.

Lucius Joseph