I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.
Revelation 2:19

The natural order in all creation is growth: Seeds become plants, infants become adults, calves become cows, acorns become oaks, and minnows become fish. When something doesn’t grow, it is a cause for concern; something abnormal is happening. Growth is also the expected progression in the spiritual life: Babes in Christ grow into mature followers of Christ.

When the apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth, he addressed their lack of spiritual growth (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). Instead of acting like mature spiritual adults, they were acting like carnal infants. He could not address them as mature adults because they had not grown in their faith. Such was not the case with the church in the city of Thyatira. When Christ addressed this church, He commended them for their spiritual growth. They were displaying greater spiritual works in the present than they had in the past—a sure sign of increasing maturity (Revelation 2:19).

Take a moment to assess your spiritual growth. Is it increasing? Declining? Has it plateaued? Ask God to show you areas in which you can focus your growth in the future.

Faith, like a muscle, grows by stretching.
A. W. Tozer