"But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18, NKJV

"Daddy, will you measure me?"  It seemed like every morning throughout the summer, one of my kids woke up eager to know if they had grown taller.  While I grew weary of the incessant ask, it brought back memories of my younger years and the growth spurts that inspired high hopes of being the first 6-foot Filipino (that I knew of at least).  The wall opposite my bathroom mirror in my childhood home was wallpapered with a pattern of lines that made it easy to check whether I was any taller than the day before.  Maybe you had days like that too -- seasons when growth was expected, so it became something we watched for and, for some of us, kind of obsessed over.  Eventually, however, those physical growth spurts come to an end, and we come to grips with our full-grown height.  But does the same expected end apply to our spiritual growth?  Even if we can identify seasons of exceptional spiritual growth spurred on by certain environments and spiritual disciplines, impactful people in our lives, or even challenges we've faced, should we expect our spiritual development to eventual settle into an experience of indefinite plateau?  No, I believe God has designed us for more, much more.

GROWTH MINDSET

Many years ago, Dr. Carol Dweck and her team at Stanford University brought attention to the power of a "growth mindset."  In short, "growth mindset" describes one's underlying belief that growth is possible, that one has the capacity to learn more, improve, and become more able.  While a "fixed mindset" feels stuck in present failure or even just the present state of things, a "growth mindset" sees our present status as a stepping stone into something better.  Dr. Dweck applied her findings primarily in the realm of students' educational development, but long before she coined the phrase King Solomon expressed the sentiment of a growth mindset as defining the experience of those who follow God.  In Proverbs 4, Solomon contrasts the path of the wicked and the path of the just or righteous.  While the path of the wicked is something to avoid, marked with evil, violence, and darkness (vv. 14-17, 19), the path of the just is completely different.  Notice just how Solomon describes what's different about the experience of the righteous:

"But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18, NKJV

What makes the journey of the just different?  Yes it's bright like the sun rather than full of darkness.  

But more than that, it's an experience that grows progressively brighter.  

Like the morning sun that at first makes the horizon glow, then breaks over the horizon to chase away the night's shadows with increasing intensity, the life journey of God's followers are to shine "ever brighter" or "more and more" as the King James Version puts it.  Until when?  Unto the perfect day, continually growing until we live in the full light of God's presence for all eternity.  God envisions our lives with a trajectory of continual spiritual development that progresses from "strength to strength" (Ps. 84:7).

HOW TO KEEP GROWING

There are probably countless ways to explore the how-to's of continual spiritual growth, but the words of Paul and Peter resonate most deeply with me.  Remember, Paul speaks from the perspective of someone who used to think he was perfect, and Peter speaks as someone who morally fell to rock bottom.   Listen to Paul's practical instruction about how to keep growing:

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:13-14, NKJV

The formerly perfect Pharisee starts off with what NOT to do:  don't fool yourself into thinking you've arrived or "apprehended."  

In other words, guard against the extreme version of a fixed mindset that deceives ourselves that we're better than we actually are and don't need to change or grow.  

Taking into account the larger context of what Paul says in Philippians 3 as a whole, that unhealthy mindset is fed by comparisons to others and a checklist mentality to spirituality.  When we're free of that kind of fixed mindset and can look past our past (especially those things that we use to let define us or hold us back from our full potential in Christ), that's when we can actually reach "forward to those things which are ahead" (v. 13).  In order to keep growing, Paul invites us to shift our focus on God's upward call and then to press toward that.  It's an invitation not just to acknowledge that God has goals for us that are higher and greater than our current experience, but to then pursue them with urgency and energy like a hunter after his prize.  We grow as we forget and reach, let go and lean in.

What's Peter's counsel on all this?  2 Peter 1:5-8, the now humble and steadfast apostle outlines a very definite track of spiritual development that is continuously abounding and bearing fruit for God's glory.  And then he says something significant about those who aren't continually growing in this way:

"For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins." 2 Peter 1:9, NKJV

Did you catch it?  Like a physician giving a surprising diagnosis, Peter identifies the pathology of a lack of spiritual growth:  forgetting that we've been cleansed from our past sins.  The positive implication then is that continual growth in our present and future is the outflow of a constant belief that our past has been covered by the blood of Jesus.  In Peter's mind, the key to abounding in spiritual growth on a continual basis is not forgetting we've been cleansed from our past sins.  Why?  

Because the assurance of our justification in Christ is the basis for our continual sanctification in Christ.  

If we want to keep growing, let's stay grounded in the assurance that we have been purchased and redeemed by the blood of Jesus!

Friends, let's receive God's ever brighter vision for our lives.  As we lean into this life of continual growth in Jesus, may we learn to forget the fixed mindset of thinking we have no need for change, and may we never forget that Jesus has already cleansed us from our sins.  May we be free to reach forward, press onward, and abound more and more in the life God has called us to live!