Jesus grew in “stature” (physically), in “wisdom and in favor” with God (spiritually & mentally) and “wisdom and in favor” men (socially). (Luke 2:52)
If Jesus needed to grow spiritually and mentally, so do we. What do you need to do to grow spiritually? Learn from Jesus and do what He did.
There are 3 things Jesus did to further His spiritual and mental growth.
a) Jesus had the habit of going to the synagogue in His hometown regularly – Luke 4:16.
At the age of 12, Jesus started going to the temple in Jerusalem with his family according to the custom – Luke 2: 41-42. Listen, your participation in church life, is extremely important to your spiritual growth.
Can you be a Christian without going to the church? You may, but you will be a spiritually undeveloped Christian.
If you can grasp now the importance of being actively involved in church life, it will keep you on the right track later on in life. Those who stop participating in church life is because they basically said that something else is more important to them than going to church. Life will bring before you many options; Satan will tempt you with lots of things… only to distract you from being involved in church. Someone with a vibrant Christian life will always be involved and committed to a local church.
Psalm 133:1 – How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
Acts 2: 46-47 – Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Hebrews 10: 24-25 – And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
b.) Jesus knew His Bible.
After Jesus’ parents walked a one day walk and then came back another day and probably spent another day looking for him – total of 3 days – they found Jesus at the temple.
What did Jesus do at the temple? He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions – Luke 2: 46.
This is nothing else, but mental and spiritual development. Jesus took time to study His bible, listen to the teachers / preachers of that day and ask questions. When was the last time you asked someone a question about a passage from the bible? Of course we don’t have questions about the bible if we don’t open it and read it.
When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He responded with scripture (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus Christ memorized scripture. Can you see the mental and spiritual development?
Jesus knew His bible… He was familiar with the books /scrolls of the Law and He also knew where certain passages were… – “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written…” (Luke 4: 17)
As you can see, spiritual and mental growth involved active involvement with the Bible; read it and memorize it! You will find God in the pages of the Bible. The Bible is not God; it is a tool that points us to God.
c.) Jesus spent time in prayer!
Jesus Christ liked to talk to God, His heavenly Father. He never forgot to pray. In fact Jesus planned certain times to be by Himself so that He can talk to God freely and as much as He wanted.
Sometimes, Jesus would get up early in the morning and would go by Himself to a quiet place to pray. Other times, he would talk to God I behalf of others – that is public prayer for others.
Jesus didn’t view his prayer life as a burden… it was more of a privilege.
5“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men… 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matt 6:5-8)
“If God is all-knowing and cares about me, why do I even have to ask him for things?” And, “Since God is all-powerful and is going to accomplish his will anyway, what effect are my prayers going to have on him?”
Such questions indicate a failure to understand the purpose of prayer. Prayer is our means to connect with God in order to assimilate his will into our lives. Through an attitude of prayer, God’s mind on matters of life can become our mind. “Who can know what the Lord is thinking?” Paul asks. “Who can give him counsel? But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16, NLT). When we learn and practice the discipline of prayer, it deepens our intimate relationship with God and allows Christ to reflect his character and nature through our lives. Prayer is more than words; it is an attitude of the surrendered heart to be conformed into the image of Christ.”[1]
