Bible Verses About Growing

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.”

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.”

“Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food! For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.”

“Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

“And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.”

“Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

“Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. 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. As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word— and to this they were appointed. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men. Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but even to those who are unreasonable. For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended. How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.”

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

“Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.”

“Be diligent in these matters and absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.”

“Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.”

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.”

“Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.”

“So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.”

“The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature. But the seeds on good soil are those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, cling to it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

“Command and teach these things. Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given you through the prophecy spoken over you at the laying on of the hands of the elders. Be diligent in these matters and absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.”

“In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

“I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour! “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit? Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.” For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress. Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land. I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied. For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.” Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine. At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands. Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers! So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes. But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy. Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!” Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice. Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised. He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold— how speedily and swiftly they come! None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken. Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind. Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away, and no one can rescue it. In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.”

“But this is not the way you came to know Christ. Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him— in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus— to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

“Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

“The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

“Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

“Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?”

“Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh!”

“You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.”

“Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”

“The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old.”

“You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.”

“Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.”

“Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

“I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom.”

“Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.”

“Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.”

“Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father.”

“But reject irreverent, silly myths. Instead, train yourself for godliness.”

“Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished.”

“Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

“Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as to a father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.”

“He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.”

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

“We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.”

“Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

“For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.”

“Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.”

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”