Questions About the Spiritual Life in Christ (2)

Does a Christian perpetually grow? Not at all times, in all parts. Trees we know, in wintertime, grow in the root. Christians do not grow always in all graces, but only in some one radical grace, as in faith or humility. If there is any stop, it is to further his speediness afterwards, as we see in those that stumble in their course, and as water stopped, breaks out more outrageously. This is how it was in the failings of David and Peter. God's children, after times of falling, are as a broken bone after it is set. The bone grows stronger in that part than in any other.
Why, at times, can I not perceive any spiritual growth in me? We perceive not when the corn grows, nor when the shadows move, yet in the passing of time we see that the corn has grown, and the shadow has moved. So, though we perceive it not, yet every act of repentance and faith strengthens us. There may be many cloudy times in every Christian's life. David, a man after God's own heart, had many infirmities. These times may cloud a man's eyes, so that he may think he is going backward. But these times should not hinder our faith in God's love; for God does not call every slip in a man's life to reckoning. Any traveller may set his foot awry and may go out of his way, yet at length he gets home; and God judges us not by single acts, but by the tenor and direction of our lives.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Sun of Righteousness, Works, vol. 7, pp. 175-76
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