A Surprising Catalyst for Spiritual Change

When you follow Jesus, one of the things you desire is spiritual growth. To know him better and follow him more closely is important.

In a world of accelerating desire for quick solutions there is an age-old catalyst for spiritual growth. Growth means change. All growth involves change at some level.

So, what is this catalyst for spiritual growth? It is simply this: repentance.

What is repentance?

We often think of repentance as that decision we make to ask God to forgive our sins. We forsake our old life and embark on a new life, empowered by the Holy Spirit, of following Jesus. That is certainly an apt description of repentance.

But repentance really is a change of mind. And growth is a continual process of changes of mind. With every new revelation, we change our minds. We repent of an old idea or pattern of thinking and adopt a new idea or pattern of thinking.

An attitude of repentance

Having an attitude of repentance means we approach each day with the idea that we need to change something to become more spiritually mature each day. Praying and asking our Father to show us what needs to change in our lives accelerates our spiritual growth, as long as we agree to actually change!

Daily, we seek the changes necessary to grow. The more we grow, the more we impact our world. This world needs God’s love, peace and joy more than ever and we need not be struggling with our own spiritual issues to the point that we cannot make a difference.

Activating an attitude of repentance opens a world of possibilities. It means we don’t have to relearn lessons repeatedly. With each new revelation, we change. We ask God for his help to make this change a reality. We have an expectation that we will indeed change.

Sadly, there are followers of Jesus who have been faithful to him for years who are still immature. They love Jesus and are devoted to being a follower, but they are not growing. They are petrified at the thought of discipling someone. They are terrified about reaching out to unsaved friends and neighbors. When they should be feeding others, they can barely feed themselves. This should not be.

A lifestyle of repentance

Approaching life as a growing experience means that we look at each day and expect growth. We learn that God is still perfecting our lives. We repent of yesterday’s self and seek a new self. The new self makes little changes each day in response to the leadership of Jesus in our lives. We listen to his word; we talk to him and we find something that needs to be improved.

A lifestyle of repentance means that we live in an ever-expanding comfort zone. We stretch our comfort zone by stepping out of it in the power of the Spirit. Then we continually experience a mind changing life that understands that our comfort zone is holding us back.

The catalyst for spiritual growth helps us move ahead. It keeps us from getting stuck. So we should repent of being resistant to repentance! This is the first step in moving forward. So do it!

Your Turn

Repentance is so important to our spiritual health and growth. Embrace this catalyst for spiritual growth and experience all that God has to offer you.