Have you grown in faith through the pandemic?

‘Haven’t they grown!’ seems to be a well-worn phrase as we emerge from lockdown and meet up with young people and children we haven’t seen for more than a year.

Women who weren’t pregnant last time we saw them now have babies in their arms, tweens have become fully-fledged teens.

Honest gauges of growth

You might notice a few more grey hairs and wrinkles post-lockdown, but have you grown? I mean, have you grown spiritually? In the past year the artificial markers of godliness – whether we attend the prayer meeting, serve on rotas, and come to both services on Sunday – have been removed and we’ve been left with the much more honest gauge of – have we been patient while home schooling, joyful in times of fear and uncertainty, and loving to those we live with, when the monotony of lockdown overwhelmed us.

Paul wrote to the Galatians that growing in godliness is the work of the Spirit in our lives. He alone produces the fruit of Christlikeness: ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ (Gal. 5:22). Lockdown may have accelerated growth in some of these areas as we realised afresh how much we needed God’s help to be patient when Zoom breaks down, faithful when we are exhausted and lonely, and gentle when our kids are struggling. But not necessarily so.

Passionate pursuit

Though life will be forever marked as pre- and post-Covid, our spiritual lives cannot be. Our growth in godliness is the passionate pursuit of a lifetime. Life circumstances may provide growth spurts, but being conformed to the image of Christ must be our daily goal. When we became Christians we ‘crucified the flesh with its passions and desires’ (Gal. 5:24). We put to death our old nature, but we still have a daily death to die. As John Stott said: ‘In Christ we died to sin once; but we must die to ourselves every day’. In the Spirit’s power we need to ruthlessly tackle sin so that it doesn’t fester and He can grow his fruit in our lives. And, as we daily repent, we receive God’s inexhaustible forgiveness.

As the Puritans testified:

I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, ‘Father, forgive me’,
and you are always bringing forth the
best robe. (Valley of Vision)

There is a daily repentance and a putting on of ‘the best robe’, but Paul also gives us another charge as we pursue Christlikeness: ‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit’ (Gal. 5:25). The Holy Spirit already lives within us and He longs for us to yield our will to His, to surrender control. It is easy to keep in step with the culture, our peers, and even our Christian friends. It’s comforting to measure our Christlikeness by whether we keep in step with the habits of church friends. As long as we are serving the same as them, saying the same as them, giving the same as them, surely we are on the right trajectory! But Christ’s call is altogether more glorious: ‘keep in step with the Spirit.’ Through Bible reading, prayer, and corporate worship, set your mind on the Spirit and let Him determine your course.

When we are finally allowed in each other’s homes and can gather fully as church I hope our overriding impression is not the grey hairs or the extra pounds around the waist but: ‘Praise God, haven’t we grown!’