How Growth Happens

“Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ”

Mark 4:27

Yesterday, we learned that God’s strategy for us is growth! Now, the question becomes: how do we achieve this growth, or how does growth itself occur?

Let me share a personal story that illustrates the mystery of growth. I ran into an old uncle sometime ago and greeted him respectfully. He recognized me, even though I’d grown taller since he last saw me ten years ago. My face hadn’t changed much, though. He recognized me, but my growth surprised him. He exclaimed, “How did you get so big?”. I responded, “uncle, the last time you saw me was ten years ago”. It’s the mystery of growth, it happens gradually, everyday but not exactly visible until it becomes a major shift. This pattern is the same for both plants, animals and even for spiritual growth too. 

In the parable of Mark 4, Jesus explains the mysterious way the kingdom of God grows and spreads. This parable also sheds light on our own spiritual growth. The first characteristic of this growth is that we don’t see its immediate effects, only its cumulative effects. In other words, we grow gradually each day as we expose ourselves to God’s word and engage with him in prayer, but this growth may not be readily apparent.

You’re wondering why you haven’t experienced open visions or raising the dead yet, even though you’ve been in the faith for a while. But consider this: if God allowed that to happen today, would your current spiritual life be structured enough to handle the pressure and responsibility that would come with it?

Don’t become overly fixated on the results of your growth and lose sight of the process itself. One day, the Lord will start doing mighty things through you and people will ask, how did you get here? In that moment, you’ll be grateful for those early days of small beginnings: the days you consistently increased your prayer time and Bible study, the days you obeyed and yielded to God’s even the seemingly minor instructions. God’s growth pattern is that we should produce “first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head… and before you know it the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Keep taking your spiritual growth one step at a time.

PRAYER