How much time have you dedicated to your spiritual growth in the past year?
This article is going to explore a few ways to develop a spiritual growth mindset. But first, we need to ask ourselves some basic questions. So, let’s get the ball rolling.
What Is Spiritual Growth?
The beauty of spiritual growth is that it’s subjective.
The drawback to spiritual growth is that it’s subjective.
See the problem? Spiritual growth looks different for everyone. So how can we even start to define it?
Let’s start with a working definition. Something that’s not too prescriptive.
Spiritual growth is about setting goals to grow our relationship with God, working on those goals and seeing where that takes us.
Fair enough?
Whatever we are seeking shapes our growth journey. It will look different for everyone—because WE are all different. But the common thread is that we are trying to grow in our relationship with God.
Why Does Spiritual Growth Matter?
Now that we understand a little about what spiritual growth is, we can see how it has positive benefits—not only in our lives, but spilling over to those around us.
Working on developing as a spiritual being will help in lots of different aspects of our life. We are more likely to shine at work. We’ll also grow into more compassionate and loving people.
Listening and being attentive will come more naturally. We will feel good about ourselves and we will make others feel good as well.
It’s the very essence of a win-win situation.
How to Start Our Growth Journey
Here are FOUR things we can do to promote spiritual growth.
1. Set Short-Term Goals
I think where many people go wrong is they set wildly optimistic long-term goals. These sound amazing and faith-filled—but they don’t help us take the next steps.
Instead, think about those next steps toward spiritual growth by setting bite-sized, short-term goals. By “short term” I’m talking about what we can accomplish within the next couple of weeks.
The benefit of a short-term goal is that we can appreciate the gains much more easily than a long-term goal that might only be perceptible over a period of many months or years.
Make your goals realistic. Don’t promise God you’re going to get up every day for the next year at 4.00 am and pray for three hours kneeling on the bedroom floor. You’re just setting yourself up to fail.
If you sense the need for more prayer, set a goal you can exceed. For example, you might commit to praying for 10 minutes per day when you are sure you can keep that commitment.
Struggling to read the bible? Commit to reading a short epistle in the next week. You can do that—and feel you’re making progress.
Come up with something that’s going to be a small win—something that stretches you a little, but is achievable.
You can even schedule a little treat for when you hit your growth goal.
2. Pursue your purpose in life
We’re never too old to learn. Keep an open mind and step out of your comfort zone, and you’ll find fascinating things to learn about.
I’m in my early 60s and retired last year. Every day I find new things to discover, new ideas I’d like to try, and new subjects that I want to learn more about. It makes me wish I could go back and be 20 again—but also knowing everything that I know now!
The trick is to find something that piques our interest. In this day and age where everything is evolving and changing, there’s no shortage of that!
What makes you happy? Find what makes you burst with happiness, aka your purpose in life.
I have a list of projects, ideas, and books I want to read—all stored on notes on my phone. I’ll never do half of them, but it’s good to have ideas that excite me and keep me wanting to grow.
Thanks to modern-day technology, there are plenty of ways to learn and develop our skills. YouTube is a candy store of free knowledge. And there are low-cost options with Udemy and Skillshare and Medium.
3. Read More
Many of us have given up on reading. And I think it's to our detriment.
Start the habit of reading each day, even if you read one blog a day. Those of us on Medium have more good writing to read than we could read in a lifetime!
Maybe I’m a dinosaur, but I still enjoy reading a newspaper—and I mean a physical newspaper, not an app. Somehow, a physical newspaper captures my attention and helps me to learn in a way that scrolling through the app version of that same newspaper does not.
I don’t think I’m alone. When I commented on a Medium article last week about how I still preferred a physical book over an e-book, my comment gained 10 fans within a few hours!
Acquiring knowledge is extremely satisfying. Reading is one of the easiest and most satisfying ways to boost our self-confidence and enhance our spiritual growth.
4. Practice Self-Acceptance
Be confident in what you’ve accomplished. And forgive yourself for any past mistakes. That’s the first step to accepting who you are and realising your true worth.
Avoid the comparison trap—it sucks the life out of us. Far too often we don’t grow as God wants because we are too busy comparing ourselves to other people who have their paths to tread.
God did not intend me to be the next Billy Graham or Rick Warren. He created me to be the best version of me—and I dedicated my growth towards that goal, not trying to emulate someone else.
Understanding spiritual growth isn’t rocket science. But it can mean the difference between being happy, hopeful—and feeling dejected and lost.
Of course, no one wakes up saying, “I want to go backwards today.”
But turning that round and creating a mindset of growth requires some hard work and a fistful of dedication.
Build a mindset for spiritual growth and change—and unlock the amazing purpose that God desires for us.
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