Blog 4 - Caleb Odell

One thing that John and I have talked about recently is the idea of how do we grow spiritually and how can we tell that we are growing spiritually. We talked about how God’s word is one of the greatest ways that God works in our lives, shaping us through His Spirit. We looked at 2 Corinthians 3:18 which says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Looking at this verse we can see how we are transformed simply be beholding God. This verse has ties back to the story of Moses on Mount Sinai. Moses went up to God and God showed him His glory. When that happened and Moses came back down to the people, Moses face was glowing and he was forced to veil it because it scared the people. So today we grow spiritually by beholding the glory of God. This means that our lives are about seeking God. We hope to see him in our study of the Bible since it is His word revealed to us. We hope to see him in our prayers where we can talk to God. And, we hope to see him as we interact with the people made in his image. We can see him as we sit in Church, as we take communion, and as we seek to love those around us.

                So the other question that John and I talked about was how can we know we are growing spiritually? Obviously there are times when we can see God’s working in our lives very clearly. We can look back over the years of our life and see just how much God has shaped us. The key is, how are we growing in our everyday lives. Here at Wheaton we have chapel three times a week, church on Sunday, and numerous other opportunities to study God’s word. How can we tell that the sermon in chapel Wednesday helped us grow? There are moments when we feel deeply moved by sermons, but there are other times when it feels like just another day in the office. Often the ways that we are changed can be relatively imperceptible, but there are several things we can think of. Augustine, a Church father, said that we can tell we are interpreting the Bible correctly if it leads us to love God and love people better. I think that this same principle can be used in our own lives to determine if we are growing.