Stunting Your Spiritual Growth

1 Peter 2:1-2

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

The command for the believer is to grow, but there are some things that will keep you from growing in the Lord. The purpose of growth is manyfold. The purpose of growth is to make you more into the image of Christ. The purpose of growth is to keep a great passion in your Christian walk. The purpose of growth is to help you become a better witness for Christ. The purpose of growth is to help your love for God to increase. Oh, it should be your great desire to continue growing in the Lord. However, God shows us several things that will keep us from growing.

First, malice keeps you from growing. Malice is the evil intent to cause harm to someone. Malice is simply being a spiteful individual. In other words, always trying to hurt or annoy others hurts your ability to grow as a believer. You cannot carry malice in your heart and find growth in your Christian walk simultaneously.

Second, guile keeps you from growing. Guile is being a manipulative person. Guile is the person who says or does things deceitfully and slyly so they can have their own way. Guile is done so that you can achieve your goal, even if achieving it means you must deceive and manipulate others to get it.

Third, hypocrisies keeps you from growing. Hypocrisies is hiding your true intentions of what you do so you can have your own way. It is saying one thing, but not truly meaning it. It is pretending you have sincere motives, but your true motives are about you getting your way instead of God having His.

Fourth, envies keeps you from growing. When you are envious of what others have, it will keep you from growing. In other words, when you have resentment towards another because of their possessions, qualities, or achievements, it will keep you from becoming what God wants you to be. Envy keeps you from growing because it is telling God that He made a mistake by not giving you what you are envious about.

Fifth, evil speakings keeps you from growing. Evil speakings is being malicious, slanderous, or using harmful speech against someone with the intent to defame, insult, or injure another person’s reputation or well-being. You will notice that evil speakings is the last thing God mentions, because evil speakings is what malice, guile, hypocrisy, and envy leads to.

The way to keep these things from hurting your spiritual growth is to keep your desire on God’s Word. If you take your eyes off yourself and get your focus on God’s Word, the Word will help you to lay these bad qualities aside. My friend, your Christian growth is dependent on staying in God’s Word. There ought to be a great desire for God’s Word so these selfish desires do not become a part of your life.

Let me take this one step further. Even if you don't desire God’s Word, read it until the desire comes. You will find the more time you spend in God’s Word, the more these sinful qualities will cease, resulting in a great yearning and desire for God’s Word.