Growth Spurt?
Theme of the Week: Stalled? Or Growing?
Sunday, August 12, 2007
 1 of 1
Who Said It…Jim Cymbala
Jim Cymbala began pastoring Brooklyn Tabernacle 36 years ago in a run-down building with less than 30 attending. They ministered to disintegrating families stressed by drug and alcohol abuse. Nine years ago a now thriving congregation bought a downtown theater to meet in. Five years ago, they added three floors of a commercial building as a center for ministry to abused children and devastated youth, also providing adult literacy programs and activities for seniors. What He Said…Growth Spurt?
When I was growing up in Brooklyn, basketball was my thing. I'd shovel snow off the playground court a block from my home just so I could practice shooting on cold Saturday mornings. By the time other kids would arrive, I was half-frozen but still ready to shoot hoops. I spent years worrying about whether I'd be tall enough to compete effectively. My mom wasn't happy about my preoccupation because I left pencil lines all over the walls of our house, trying to mark how much I'd grown from month to month.
I wish we Christians today were as concerned about our spiritual growth as I was back then about my physical growth. How many Christians can testify to an ongoing growth in God? Of course, it's easy to keep track of physical growth, but how can we tell if we're growing spiritually? Many of us have mistaken outward observances for spiritual growth. The Bible offers the only standard by which we can measure ourselves: a renewed life that bears fruit.
Adapted from Breakthrough (Zondervan, 2003) by permission.
Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
 share this page
Don't let me plateau in my spiritual development, Lord. Keep me growing and make me fruitful.
Men of Integrity
Connect with God | Transform my Mind | Live by His Power
Relate Better | Make an Impact
Home | Archives | Contact Us
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Try an Issue of Men of Integrity
Free!
|
 |
|
No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders.
If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless.
Give Men of Integrity as a gift
Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
|
RSS Feed
