At the beginning of May, I decided to try the gel nail polish on my nails. I loved it! It went on quickly and dried much faster than the usual nail polish. And it lasted a couple of weeks without chipping or losing its shine.

Since then, I’ve made several trips to the salon to get this product on my nails. Then I started reading about what it could do to my nails. Not good. So I followed all the guidelines to get the polish off my nails to begin the healing process.

I was mortified. My nails were in such bad shape and many are paper thin. The healing process is going to take a long time, but I’m committed to getting my nails back to what they once were, without gel polish.

I believe we can relate this to our spiritual life. At least I can. Sometimes we jump on the latest and greatest bandwagon for developing our spiritual lives. I’m not saying that all of these things are bad, I just think we need to be careful and do our research on what these studies are all about.

I also believe we sometimes want the easy way out. We want spiritual formation to happen and we want it happen now. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t happen that way. Spiritual formation takes time and effort on our part.

I also wonder if we don’t do damage when we try a fast track. We don’t spend time in God’s Word. We come to conclusions without in-depth study. And we form opinions based on what we have gleaned from our little bit of study. Perhaps that opinion isn’t really in line with God’s Word. The passage we studied might have been for another group of people, or it may have been a quote by a philosopher, or the passage we looked at was just one piece to the whole picture.

And then I believe once we realize that we have some misconceptions or very little growth in our lives, it’s time to begin the healing process. And most often, this takes time.

So what and how are we to grow spiritually?

We should investigate what materials we use to develop spiritually.

We should make spiritual formation a discipline in our lives.

We should take the time to be in God’s Word

We should begin the healing process if needed.

I want to encourage you with a few verses of Scripture. I pray that you will find the desire within you to grow in your spiritual walk with the Lord.

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14-15 – NIV)

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” (Colossians 1:10-12 – NIV)

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna