Vital signs- Tuesday, August 10th, 2021

“I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.”

(1 John 2:12-14)

When Dwight L. Moody became a Christian, he developed such a hunger for God’s Word, spent so much time reading it, and was so quick to obey it, that he became a menace to some believers. His rapid spiritual growth was an embarrassment to certain people who, though they had been saved for years, never grew up in Christ. Week after week in the church Moody attended, he would share a new experience that he’d had with the Lord. Finally, some of the older saints who couldn’t stand feeling humiliated by his exemplary life went to Moody’s uncle and urged him to quiet down his nephew. As Ethel Barrett wrote of Moody, his robust spiritual health and bounding energy disturbed their napping. He was just too much. While they were sucking their thumbs, he was growing until he left them far behind. He grew more in a few years than they did in thirty because he got in the Word of God. Likewise, we need to get the Word of God in our hearts and lives if we’re going to grow.

• How would you rate your current hunger for God’s Word?

• Where do you need to be disturbed from “spiritual sleep”?

Make some goals for spiritual maturity and share those with a Christian brother or sister who is close to you. Make a plan for regular time spent in the Word, seeking to grow in Christian maturity.