The issue of spiritual growth has been a cloudy one for many believers. If you were to ask them how to grow spiritually, they are apt to say, Read your Bible, attend church, and pray, as if spiritual growth happens by osmosis. So what does it take to cultivate spiritual growth? What do believers need to do to become mature, developed Christians?
In PUT OFF/PUT ON, author and pastor Jeffrey E. Stephens tackles the issue of spiritual growth head on, showing from scripture that there is a concrete step-by-step process that, when understood and practiced, will result in the rapid spiritual growth of an individual believer. While Pastor Stephens focuses on the issue of anger, primarily, this process can be applied to all the situations, habits, and emotions that believers experience in daily living or may be struggling with personally.
As we can learn from the apostle Pauls letter to the Ephesians, the nature of spiritual growth is more akin to the training of an athlete or soldier, and it takes the discipline of a farmer; through these metaphors, we can learn how to cultivate patience and discipline, and we must train and work hard to develop our Christian characters and practice. Spiritual growth is about more than osmosisits about transformation.