Here are twenty verses that encapsulate the concept of growing and maturing:
1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)
“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 put the ways of childhood behind me.”
Ephesians 4:15 (NIV)
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
2 Peter 3:18 (NIV)
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
Philippians 1:9 (NIV)
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”
Hebrews 5:12-14 (NIV)
“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
1 Timothy 4:12 (NIV)
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
Galatians 6:9 (NIV)
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)
“Brothers and sisters, 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 for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
James 1:4 (NIV)
“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
Proverbs 4:18 (NIV)
“The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”
2 Corinthians 4:16 (NIV)
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
Isaiah 40:29-31 (NIV)
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Psalm 92:12-14 (NIV)
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.”
1 Peter 2:2 (NIV)
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.”
Ephesians 4:13 (NIV)
“until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)
“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Psalm 119:9-11 (NIV)
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me