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The Three Stages of Growth
Spiritual development mirrors physical growth: Babyhood (innocent but easily hurt), Childhood (curious but unstable), and Manhood (grounded in love and Word).
by Kenneth E. Hagin (1976)
THE BIG IDEA IN ONE MINUTE
Just as humans progress from babyhood through childhood to adulthood, every believer must consciously grow from spiritual infancy into mature spiritual authority.
“God does not expect you to stay a spiritual baby forever; He expects you to grow into mature love and authority.”
CORE PRINCIPLES
Spiritual development mirrors physical growth: Babyhood (innocent but easily hurt), Childhood (curious but unstable), and Manhood (grounded in love and Word).
True spiritual maturity is not measured by the gifts you demonstrate or the knowledge you possess, but by how consistently you walk in divine love.
Infants survive on milk, but adults need solid food. Growing up requires leaving shallow milk behind to study, meditate on, and obey deeper truths.
BOOK SUMMARY
In Growing Up, Spiritually, Kenneth E. Hagin addresses one of the greatest tragedies in the modern church: believers who have been born again for thirty years but still think, act, and react like spiritual toddlers.
Hagin identifies the telltale signs of spiritual babyhood: extreme self-centeredness, easily offended feelings, envy, strife, and an inability to digest solid scriptural truth without choke.
He explains that spiritual age does not automatically advance with chronological age or church attendance. A person can sit in church pews for decades and remain an infant unless they deliberately feed on the Word of God and practice walking in agape love.
The mature believer, Hagin demonstrates, is one who takes responsibility for their spiritual atmosphere, refuses to take offense, and exercises spiritual authority with quiet confidence and humility.
Examine your recent reactions: whenever you feel offended, jealous, or eager to defend your ego, recognize it as spiritual babyhood and choose to respond in mature love.