Are you waxing strong in spirit?
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him (Luke 2:40, KJV)
Jesus grew physically and spiritually. As a young boy, He was increasing in height and weight as every other healthy child. We are all familiar with this aspect of our growth and development. However, there was another dimension of His growth mentioned in the verse above. It says He “waxed strong” in the spirit. That means He became strong spiritually.
The scripture gives us an example of what it means by becoming strong in spirit: He was “filled with wisdom”. Verse 52 describes this growth more fully: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52, KJV). He increased in wisdom. In other words, the amount of wisdom in Jesus as a Man increased. This is amazing. He is the Word of God, but as a Man, the wisdom operating in Him had to increase. This is spiritual growth. It is clear that as wisdom was increasing in Him, so was the power of God.
You can see that spiritual virtues increase in us. This is the mystery of the spirit and the soul I have been teaching in our live Bible studies. I would not get into details here for space’s sake!There is a certain degree of wisdom, power and the fruit of the Spirit that is at work in you at any time. If you measure it from 0 to 10, there are some of us who are at 0, others are at 1, 2 3 and some might even be at 8 or 9!
Are you waxing strong in spirit? After all the Church attendance, bible studies, prayer etc., the final analysis is that you should make sure you are waxing strong in spirit, growing in wisdom, power and the fruit of the Spirit in your character.
MEDITATE
Why did Jesus, who was fully God inside, have to grow in wisdom as a Man? How does that relate to what the scripture calls the “renewal of the mind” for us?
APPLY THE WORD
Wax strong in the things of God! This growth is not spontaneous. It is intentional. Desire to increase in power, wisdom, and the Christlikeness of your character.
PRAY
Ask the Spirit of the Lord to help you become stronger and stronger each day.
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