For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.   2 Peter 1:5-9 HCSB

We’ve all seen growth charts that are used as children grow, but what would a spiritual growth chart look like?

Well, I think we can look at our Scripture passage and get a good idea. It would probably begin with faith being at the bottom. Faith is the foundation upon which we grow. Faith is required to grow spiritually. We are told in Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible to please God without faith, because the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. So faith must be our foundation. Faith grows as we experience trials and tribulations and remain steadfast in Him.

As our faith in Him grows, goodness should naturally follow. So the next line up on the spiritual growth chart would be goodness. Ephesians 5:1 tells us that we should be imitators of Christ. We should imitate His goodness. When we find the goodness that we receive in Him, we should naturally want to be good to others.

As we grow in faith and goodness, our knowledge should increase. Knowledge would be the next line up on the growth chart. This is why Bible study is so important. It’s not enough to read a verse every now and then or even every day, we must study God’s holy Word and be sure that we have a good understanding of it. This is why having a good, Bible believing and teaching church is essential for growth.

This helps to increase our self-control. Self-control would be the next rung up on the growth chart ladder. I often stop myself from doing something simply because I know it would not be pleasing to my Lord and Savior. We are told in Proverbs 25:28 that a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Galatians 5:25 lists self-control as a fruit of the Spirit.

Our ability to control ourselves in adverse situations leads to endurance. Endurance would be the next mark up on our growth chart. We are told in Romans 5:3-4 that we should rejoice in our sufferings because suffering produces endurance.

Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control and endurance produces godliness, our next line up on our growth chart. Godliness is defined as the reverent awareness of God’s sovereignty over every aspect of life and the determination to honor Him in all life’s conduct. In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul urges that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Godliness causes us to pray for others, even those we aren’t so fond of, and helps to produce brotherly affection.

As we grow in godliness, brotherly affection should be added as the next line up on our growth chart. Faith in Christ, knowledge of Him, self-control and godliness lead to having brotherly affection for others. We aren’t always happy with our siblings, but we love them and pray for them even when we don’t agree with what they do. We should grow into having this type of affection for our fellow man or woman.  Romans 12:10 tells us to love one another with brotherly affection and outdo one another in showing honor.

If you have continuously grown in faith, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness and brotherly affection your next line up on your growth chart should be love. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:2 that no matter what we possess or can do, without love we are nothing. The two greatest commandments are all about love. We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind. We are to love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39).

As Christians we should never stop growing. Maybe you should make a growth chart for yourself and see how many of the lines are filled in. Check it regularly to be sure that you are experiencing continued growth.

There may come a time in your life when your body will start to shrink and your mind as well. If we don’t nurture our spiritual growth, it may also decline. We definitely don’t want that to happen.

Have a great day!