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Growth in Christ Is Not Just Personal Improvement
Growth in Christ Is Not Just Personal Improvement
by: Dane C. Ortlund
Who Is Christ?
Our growth is not independent personal improvement. It is growth in Christ. Who then is he?The temptation for many of us at this point is to assume we pretty much know what Jesus is like. We’ve been saved by him. We’ve spent time in the Bible over the years. We’ve read some books about him. We’ve told a few others about him.And yet, if we are honest, we still find our lives riddled with failure and worry and dysfunction and emptiness.One common reason we fail to leave sin behind is that we have a domesticated view of Jesus. Not a heterodox view; we are fully orthodox in our Christology. We understand that he came from heaven as the Son of God to live the life we cannot live and die the death we deserve to die. We affirm his glorious resurrection. We confess with the ancient creeds that he is truly God and truly man. We don’t have a heterodox view. We have a domesticated view that, for all its doctrinal precision, has downsized the glory of Christ in our hearts.So we need to begin by getting clear on who this person is in whom we grow. And we start just there—he is a person. Not just a historical figure, but an actual person, alive and well today. He is to be related to. Trusted, spoken to, listened to. Jesus is not a concept. Not an ideal. Not a force. Growing in Christ is a relational, not a formulaic, experience.Who then is this person?Read More – Go to SourceThis article is adapted from Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners by Dane C. Ortlund.Need a prayer? Prayer RequestsPlease subscribe to our main Ministries daily scripture study – Koa Sinag MinistriesHave a Testimony of how God has changed or intervened in your life? Tell us your story! Give God Praise!Need some inspiration? Check out others Testimonies!Have you checked out our online store? We have a tonne of fascinating and colourful PDF books, toys, kids’ apparel, and much more, including complimentary PDFs for home schoolers!
Dane C. Ortlund (PhD, Wheaton College) serves as senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois. He is the author of Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers and Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners. Dane and his wife, Stacey, have five children.
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