How Do You Measure Spiritual Growth?

In my previous post, I mentioned the resistance I've sensed in Christian circles to attempting to define or measure spiritual growth. How do you quantify something like that? A groundbreaking passage of scripture for me in this regard was 1 Peter 1:5-9. Here it is in the TNIV translation:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins.

This passage lays out a kind of layering approach to spiritual growth, and even uses the uncommon terms "ineffective" and "unproductive" to describe it. The text implies that a person could know whether or not he or she has added goodness to their faith, or knowledge, or self-control, etc. (or, in Great Commandment terms, loving God with your heart [faith], mind [knowledge], strength [self-control]) This text, like so many similar ones in the New Testament, ends with love as the pinnacle of the growth process, or perhaps the word that encompasses all the rest (see Galatians 5, 1 Corinthians 13).

Paul definitely promoted an intentional and focused approach to spiritual growth. He compared it to sports training in 1 Corinthians 9:25-26,

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

So much of our spiritual growth activity can be described as aimless: striving for an unknown result and either (1) being frustrated that we don't get a result, or (2) becoming self-satisfied that we merely engaged in a spiritual activity. Jesus calls us to more. As different as this may sound, Jesus is results-oriented (read John 15). We are called to increase in our love for God and for our neighbor, to be intentional about it, and not be satisfied by merely engaging in aimless religious practices.

In September, our neighborhood groups (currently intermediate school-areas) will implement a tool called the Christian Life Profile. It is a guide that helps you discover, in specific ways, the quality of your relationships with God and others. It will give each of us cause to celebrate where Christ has made us fruitful (which Christians seldom do), and will also help us to know specifically how God wants to grow us (which Christians seldom do). It is not an individual activity; it involves three other trusted Christians for every person who participates. The end result of the profile is a specific plan for growth in the next season of our lives. I believe God will honor this process and use it powerfully. Imagine a group of Christ followers who know where they're going, who are not striving aimlessly, and who can celebrate specific and actual progress in their spiritual lives. I'm excited to be part of a group like that. We're going somewhere! And the benefit is not just to ourselves--we are becoming "a spring of living water welling up to eternal life."