The Bible uses two metaphors to illustrate spiritual growth. It compares us to plants and to people.
The Bible uses the picture of a plant growing and bearing fruit to describe the spiritual state of a follower of Jesus. We are compared to cedars, palm trees, fruit trees, trees planted by water, and branches on a vine.
The Bible also compares our spiritual lives to our physical lives. It describes our journey as followers of Jesus like the process of maturing physiologically. Recent converts are compared to infants, and young gifted leaders are called to “press on toward maturity.” The Bible says God desires that we would grow up into “mature manhood.”
God uses these pictures because they provide clear images of how growth happens in the Christian life. Both plants and people grow over time. Their development is not observable day-to-day, but as the years go by the change is both drastic and apparent—a sapling becomes a fruit-bearing tree, and an infant becomes a man or woman.
What is it, exactly, that God wants us to grow or increase in? How do we grow? What is the result of that growth? God answers these questions clearly for us in his Word. Here are 22 Bible verses about spiritual growth that will clarify the trajectory of your life as a follower of Jesus, and will encourage you to pursue spiritual growth.
What Does God Desire to Grow in Us?
What does it mean to “grow” as a Christian? Or put another way, what are we to grow in? The following verses provide us with seven character traits or virtues that God desires to develop in us.
Growing in Spiritual Strength
1. Romans 1:11 NLT
For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord.
2. Psalm 84:5-7 NLT
What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.
3. Psalm 92:12-13 NLT
But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God.
Grow in Wisdom
4. Psalm 90:12 NLT
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
5. Psalm 111:10 NLT
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever!
6. Proverbs 15:32 NLT
If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.
Growing in Endurance
7. James 1:2–4 NLT
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
Growing in Our Knowledge of God
8. Ephesians 1:16-18 NLT
I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
9. 2 Peter 1:2 NLT
May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
Growing in Love for Other Christians
10. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 NLT
And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.
Growing in Godly Character
11. 2 Peter 1:5–8 NLT
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Growing in Faith that Results in Sharing the Good News About Jesus
12. 2 Corinthians 10:15-16 NLT
Nor do we boast and claim credit for the work someone else has done. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended. Then we will be able to go and preach the Good News in other places far beyond you, where no one else is working. Then there will be no question of our boasting about work done in someone else’s territory.
Growing Up into Maturity
What’s the result of our growth in the Lord? From the following several verses you will discover that God desires for us to grow up into spiritual maturity.
What is Christian maturity? A mature Christian looks increasingly like Jesus and trusts in him. It’s not a busy Christian, or a knowledgeable Christian, or an especially wise Christian. It’s not a gifted Christian or a radically sacrificial Christian (1 Corinthians 12:1-3). It is a Christian who is ever growing in their relational knowledge of Jesus Christ, such that they begin to look like him, and their life becomes increasingly marked by his love.
13. 2 Corinthians 13:11 NLT
Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.
14. 2 Corinthians 13:9 NLT
We pray that you will become mature.
15. Ephesians 4:13-15 NLT
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
16. 1 Peter 2:1–3 NIV
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
What Produces Growth in Our Lives?
How does spiritual growth come about? Do you have to get a theology degree, or read the Bible a specific number of times, maintain a certain prayer routine, go to conferences, give away your possessions, or have a special spiritual experience?
The following five verses tell us how we grow spiritually. Growth is both inevitable due to the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence in our lives, but it’s also something we can pursue.
God Causes Us to Grow
17. 1 Corinthians 3:6–7 NLT
I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
18. Colossians 2:19 NIV
They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Knowing God Better Causes Us to Grow
19. Colossians 1:10 NLT
Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
Being Rooted in Jesus Causes Us to Grow
20. Colossians 2:7 NLT
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Other Christians Help Us Grow
21. Philippians 1:25 NLT
Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith.
Believing and Receiving God’s Love for Us Causes Us to Grow
22. Ephesians 3:17 NLT
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
Do You Long for Growth in Your Own Life?
The beginning of this article listed several virtues God aims to develop in us. Did one of those areas of growth stand out to you?
Ask God today to begin to grow you in that area. Then consider how you might pursue growth in that area of your life.
What a wonderful gift that we have a God who transforms us. He does not leave us where we are, but desires to strengthen us and mature us in our relationship with him and with others that we might know Jesus better and reflect his true nature to those around us.