Normal Christian growth is progressive for your whole life. Let me be clear, Christian growth is a work of God from the Spirit. You “owning your faith” in your own strength is to be on the hamster wheel.

Let me run a scenario by you. You are born into a Christian family. Mom and Dad love Jesus. They are part of a healthy church, and they’ve lovingly brought you into the life of the church. They teach you the Bible. They teach you how to pray and share the gospel with you often. You grow up in this environment and by God’s grace are converted. You live under your parents’ discipleship for years and then finally go off into the world. Maybe it’s college, or maybe it’s a job, but for the first time, you are on your own. Here’s my advice to you: Own your faith.

If God has gifted you with a healthy church and parents that love Christ, be so thankful! See your own faith as connected to theirs, but not dependent. They labored hard so that you would leave and be a beacon for Christ on your own. They desire to see you making godly choices. They want you to make the decision to wake up early and seek God’s face. The time for hand-holding is over. Your parents won’t stand before the judgement seat of Christ for you. You now have the Spirit-fueled obligation to live your life in light of the final day. If you fail to make the faith your own, then you will drift away from Christ (Heb 2:1), you will stop growing, and you will be constantly waiting on someone else to make you press on to know Him.

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