In order to grow in your relationship with God, you must first have faith in Jesus Christ, because “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Act 4:12b, ESV) That is how your relationship with God begins, and it is in Jesus Christ that your relationship with God will grow. And grow you will, if you are a Christian!
As you grow in your relationship with God, you will:
- grow in your love for God and his people; more and more you will love what God loves, and hate what God hates, according to the Bible
- grow in your understanding of sound doctrine, according to the Bible
- grow in your obedience to God, according to the Bible
Growing this way is not something you do by yourself. God has ordained that Christians grow in the church:
Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
There is no such thing as a “lone-ranger Christian” in the Bible. If you have faith in Christ, then you belong in a local church, growing alongside fellow Christians:
Hebrews 10:23-25 (ESV) 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Websites like this can be very helpful for Christians, but they are no substitute for actually joining with fellow believers in the local church.
So if you have faith in Jesus Christ, find a church where you can grow in your relationship with God – a church that loves and obeys what God has spoken in the Bible. This is the biggest question you must ask when looking for a church:
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV) 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
As you seek to grow in your relationship with God, seek out a church where you will receive sound teaching according to the Bible! Here at First Baptist, that is precisely what we are striving to do, and you are certainly welcome here.