“Every man shall bear his own burden.” Gal 6:5
Here is the first of three Scriptures you can use to measure your spiritual growth: “Every man shall bear his own burden.” The old saying, “You’re only young once,” is true, but you can be immature for a lifetime. Paul writes: “I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk…as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature” (1Co 3:1-3 NLT). As a parent you expect a higher level of responsibility and maturity from your teenager than you do from your toddler, right? And your heavenly Father requires the same of you. If you’re still being defeated by the same habits and hang-ups you struggled with as a new believer, seek God’s help. If you’re to fulfill your God-given destiny you must grow into maturity. Instead of always having to be “carried,” you must get to the place where you can feed yourself spiritually, pray in faith over your own problems, and make Spirit-led decisions concerning your life. God’s growth plan for us is: “We will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ” (Eph 4:14-15 NLT). Spiritual growth must be your priority—otherwise it won’t happen!
