◄ Life Given And Maintained ►

He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

When one begins to realize the complexity of simple spiritual growth, he learns to keep his hands off, and his faith on.

"Regeneration is a birth: the center and root of the personality, the spirit, has been re-created and taken possession of by the Holy Spirit. But time is required for that center to extend through all the circumference of our being. It is akin to a seed: the life of the Lord Jesus within must grow; and it would be against the laws of nature and grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ the strength that can only be found in the young man, or the rich experience and stability of the fathers. Even where in the new convert there is great singleness of heart and faith, with true love and devotion to the Saviour, time is needed for a deeper knowledge of the old man and sin, for a spiritual insight into what the Father's will and grace are." -A.M.

"The process of conformity to the Lord Jesus' image is going on day by day in the growing believer's life. It is a progression from obedience to obedience, from dependence to dependence, from righteousness to righteousness, and from love to love. As the maturing one gets a larger vision of his perfect Pattern through the daily study of God's Word, he takes higher ground along the line of that blessed revelation, so that his life is a progressive growing up into the Lord Jesus in all things." -R.P.

"The more the believer abounds in the riches of the Father's grace, the more unsearchable and inexhaustible he finds them to be. The spiritual man never stops growing, because he is always reaching upward to that still higher height that is just beyond." -R.P.

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).