Real spiritual growth involves us turning from our sinful focus on ourselves to be refocused on Christ, His Word, and His people. So, from one point of view, the less we think about, “Am I growing spiritually?” it may well be likely that we are growing spiritually because we’ve started forgetting about ourselves and we’re focusing on Him.

In this video, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson challenges our assumptions about spiritual growth, suggesting it’s less about self-assessment and more about our deepening engagement with Scripture, Christ, and the faith community.

I think the question, “How do you gauge whether you’re growing spiritually?” can maybe be answered in two different ways. At one level, I think I could answer the question by saying there are certain very important evidences of spiritual growth.

The first, I think, would probably be that you are studying the Word of God and loving the Word of God. One of the things Paul says, for example, to the Corinthians is that they should be children with respect to sin and evil, but they should, in understanding, be mature. And we know, for example, from a passage like Romans 12, that the way in which we grow, the way in which our lives are transformed, is by the renewal of our minds. So, one of the tools that God has given to us, the growth tools we might say, is His own Word.

Sometimes, I remember years ago it used to be said, “You are what you eat.” And I think it can also be said as Christians that we are what we read. We become more and more like the Word of God as we digest the Word of God. It gives us strength and enables us to grow. And the fruit of that—I think the chief fruit of that—would be that we grow in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus and our love for Him.

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