Ohhh, the pain was intense! I was a young person at the time, and did not understand where it was coming from. I hadn’t injured myself that I knew of, but it sure felt like it. What did my mother have to say? – “It’s growing pains!” Growing pains? It hurts to grow? Now, many years later, I have read that there is no sound evidence that proves it hurts to grow, but it sure felt like it back then! (And many young people today would agree with me!)
Whether growing pains are medically real or not, growing pains in a believer’s life are. Spiritual growing pains occur when God is moving, endeavoring to bring an individual to a new level of growth in Him. This process is not always easy or comfortable. It may require us to let go of some habit, behavior or way of thinking. It often necessitates a higher level of trust and obedience in our walks with Him.
During these growing pains, it may be tempting to resist the process and endeavor to stay the same. We think, “It is so much easier to continue on the way I am. Sure, I am not perfect, but I am comfortable and life is predictable.” What we don’t see, though, is that if we stay the same, we miss what God has in store for us. Imagine a child not growing into adulthood. He may avoid some of the hardships and responsibilities of being an adult, but he will also miss the blessings. So it is with spiritual growth.
see part of God’s design for the body of Christ. He doesn’t want it to remain like a child, but to “grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ…”(NKJV). What about you? Are you growing in your faith and becoming more like Christ? Or, have you stopped growing because of the “growing pains” involved? What about us as a church? A new level of maturity awaits us all if we will yield to the Divine growing plan.
“Lord, growing in my walk with You
is wonderful…yet painful at times.
Strengthen me to cooperate with Your growing plan.
You have much in store for me if I will only
surrender to You.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
[i] The New King James Version