7. As I grow and mature in my spiritual life, it will shape and affect all other dimensions of my life.

Which dimension do you struggle with most in your life currently: emotional, moral, intellectual, relational, or environmental (creation stewardship)?

Reflect on how you have grown and changed in each of these dimensions.

What does the gentle whisper of the Spirit say to you about potential inconsistencies in these dimensions of your life? Is there one that resists change?

As we focus intentionally on our spiritual journey, we may sometimes lose touch with other dimensions of our lives. True, it is our spiritual life that we will take with us into our next life, but we also exist in a material world. Our maturity is evident in various dimensions of our lives, shaping all these dimensions towards goodness. Let’s examine some of these dimensions.

The area of our life that is perhaps closest to the spiritual is our emotional life. Emotional health includes many factors, some of which have physical causes, but in most cases, our emotional maturity can be facilitated through our spiritual relationship with Jesus and the Spirit.

Our moral life should also be influenced by our spiritual journey. Personal integrity—purity of thought and action—are connected to our relationship with God. We should not believe that we are growing spiritually if our moral actions are not also experiencing transformation. The intellectual dimension of our lives—our ideas, opinions, and beliefs—will also be shaped by our spiritual life.

If we are growing spiritually then we should notice changes in our intellectual life. Though difficult for some to accept, the fact is that rigidly held beliefs and ideas are more likely to held by people in early stages of their spiritual journey.

Because we live among other people the relational area of our lives also needs to be shaped by our spiritual growth. Our spiritual maturity will be evident both in the loving relationships with have with other Christians and in how we care about injustices done to people we are not in relationship with. The unity of the Church and the brokenness of the world are two things that Jesus cares very much about. We cannot say we are following Him well if we do not actively join Him is what He cares about.

Finally, the earth, God’s physical creation, is a dimension that will be affected by our spiritual growth. God assigned humanity the task of stewarding His creation. We are to care for the physical world, participating in it as part of it, and nurturing it for goodness. Sadly, humanity often chooses to use the world for its own selfish interests, manipulating, depleting, and destroying much of what God created. This is inconsistent with a maturing spiritual relationship with the Creator.

If we are growing and maturing in our spiritual journey, if we are developing intimacy with Jesus, Spirit, and Father, our transformation will shape and affect all dimensions of our lives.