Keys To Spiritual Growth
BY JALEIA CHRISTINE
You will never be a part of a healthy spiritual life until you part with your childish ways.
In the sermon “First Ain’t Second — How To Put God First In Your Life” in the Paper Cha$ers series, my pastor, Micheal Todd, explained this thing that really impacted my life.
It’s called the “Elsa Equation”.
This equation from the movie Frozen proves to be spiritual. From the catch phrase “Let It Go” we get this concept: what you’re willing to part with shows what you’re willing to become a part of.
That really strikes home when we bring up the topic of spiritual growth. Many people have the desire to grow spiritually but aren’t willing to part with their childish ways.
Honestly, if you want to grow in anything you’re gonna have to let something go. You’re gonna have to make a sacrifice. Whether that be your time, your relationship status, your friend group, or that bad habit you’ve been holding on to.
I feel like this message applies directly to somebodies life. There are some specific people, places, and things in your life that prevent you from growing spiritually. And until you part with those things you will never be a part of a healthy relationship with God.
You can follow all the hashtags and Christian influencers, pretend you read your bible, listen to a few worship songs, and do all the superficial things, but until you actually make the sacrifice in your life, You’ll NEVER grow.
My motto is all about being a role model and an encouragement to this generation but this ain’t a “you got this!!” post. This is a “you need to get it together” type thing.
I’ve had my own journey with letting go of/ sacrificing things.
In 2019 I lived in Italy for about three months. It was an exchange program and was supposed to be enriching to my educational career, but it was literally the opposite. Not one of my credits actually transferred from the exchange. But something greater happened. When I parted with the people, places, and things that pulled me away from God, my spiritual life soared. I’m talking growth growth. It was like I left the states as a shrub and came back as a full grown tree rooted in Christ.
The point I’m trying to make here is that spiritual growth and maturity happens when you decide that you’ve had enough of your own childish ways. When you decide to let go off the people, places, and things that are holding you back is when you’ll actually see a change. You wonder why every time you try to grow or do something different nothing ever changes like you want it to. It’s because of your own CHOICES!
Sometimes the devil ain’t the problem, you’re the problem.
Putting God first is the most important thing you could do in the entirety of your lifespan. Because when you put God first everything else falls into place. Once you learn that you have to let things go in order to grow, your growth will exponentially increase.
The supernatural abundance of knowledge, wisdom, and discernment I have this very day came from my decision(s) to let go of the things that caused me to sin and fall away from God.
So remember — You will never be a part of a healthy spiritual life until you part with your childish ways.
“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.” (Hebrews 12:1)