WHY SOME FAIL TO GROW Post 3

From Infancy . . . to Adolescence . . . to Maturity

Spiritual growth, like human growth, develops in stages. John mentions three stages (in inverted chronological order) in 1 John 2: 13 (and repeats in part in v. 14): "I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father." Perhaps we could la­bel these stages spiritual infancy, adolescence, and maturity.
John does not explain in detail how each stage differs from the oth­ers. He does, however, provide us with some basic clues. According to John, spiritual infancy and spiritual maturity are both characterized by the knowledge of God. This is not surprising. Jesus taught His disci­ples that the knowledge of God is the essence of eternal life: "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" John 17:3). Knowing God is both the beginning and end of the Christian life. Knowledge, as it is used in these verses, does not refer primarily to a cognitive awareness of bib­lical doctrine but to a growing relationship.
Such a relationship begins with the knowledge of what God the Father has done for us through the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (He­brews 1:3). This means that the more we know about Jesus Christ, the more we know about God the Father. Jesus reveals the Father and gives us access to a relationship with Him when we place our trust in Jesus John 14:6-7). This relationship is deepened as our knowledge and experience of God grow. The spiritual infant knows God by faith. The spiritually mature believer knows Him by faith and experience.