Growth

In eternal wisdom and with incomprehensible love, this world was created to grow! Throughout the many works of creation, this growth was divinely designed to point in a positive, upward direction—trees developing to produce fruit; plants becoming harvest-heavy with grain; flowers budding and blooming. More specifically God’s perfect blueprint for the crowning masterpiece of creation, His human children, was that this growth be always morally, physically, and spiritually elevating. Adam and Eve, as they daily walked with their Creator, grew exponentially in understanding and moral aptitude. Jesus grew “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Luke 2:52. It is only due to the horrific taint of sin that we now grow disinterested, unfaithful, weary and old.

It is the beginning of a new year, a time where resolutions are hastily made and just as quickly abandoned! From our perspective as Seventh-day Adventist believers who see prophetic events unfolding, should not our resolution be to grow ever closer to our Lord and Savior? As we watch and experience the relentless incursion of evil in this mortally wounded world, should we not fervently pledge to “come out of her my people”? Revelation 18:4. Should we not be filled with an urgency to share God’s hope, forgiveness, peace and healing with those stumbling in the darkness all around us? In light of the steady diet of deception that is being fed to us by this fallen world, should we not instead have a craving for “the pure milk of the word, that [we] may grow thereby”? 1 Peter 2:2 (NKJV).      

It is the fervent hope and desire of the Texico Conference that every member, pastor, student and teacher will, under the direction of and in total cooperation with God’s Holy Spirit, experience amazing spiritual growth during this next year! Growth cannot happen without conviction and surrender on an individual basis. 

It is simply not enough for any of us to set our sights on just being a good person. We must aspire to be Godly people! As believers who claim to be both anxiously awaiting and actively preparing for the soon return of our Lord, we need to be intentional about promoting a revival of primitive faith and godliness.

Growth is an absolute imperative of life! Any living organism that stops growing soon stops living! Together let’s make the choice to grow, and to do so in a way that brings glory to our creator and advances His perfect, eternal kingdom.    

By Jeff Metherell, Director of Stewardship

Religious Liberty and Estate Planning