Back in 2010, I read an article by Dane Ortlund (senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois) who posed the following question, “What’s the Key to Healthy Christian Growth in Godliness?”

Pastor Dane asked various respondents to keep their answers to a single, short sentence. He then shared the purpose of the exercise: “The purpose of this exercise is not to provide an opportunity to nit-pick but to re-center, refresh, encourage, spur on, help one another.”

Here are a few of their answers (see all the responses here)

Mike Bullmore: I believe the key to healthy Christian growth in godliness is a deep life in the Word of God (Psalm 1:1–3) in which we are encountered by Christ, the Living Word (John 5:39–40, Col. 3:16), in whom we find all the fullness of God himself (Col. 1:19, 2 Cor. 1:20, and a hundred other verses).
Justin Buzzard: Trusting and enjoying God as your Father, living as his son/daughter, on account of Christ's work.
Graham Cole: The key is to treasure Jesus Christ, for that will be where your heart is.
Jonathan Dodson: Growth in godliness is not character-centered but Christ-centered, a constant expression of repentance and faith in the person and work of Jesus.
Lyle Dorsett: Radical, unreserved love for Jesus Christ manifested in obedient intimacy.
Zack Eswine: Jesus. Mercy. Tears. A friend. Time.
Sean Lucas: The key to healthy Christian growth in godliness is to live out of the reality of your union with Christ.
Doug Moo: The constant, disciplined practice of reminding ourselves who we are in Christ.
Gavin Ortlund: The key to healthy Christian growth in godliness is experiencing the grace and glory of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Ray Ortlund: Applying the interruptive ‘But now’ of Romans 3:21 to my heart moment by moment.
Tom Schreiner: The key to growth is trust in God, and faith comes from hearing God’s word.
Colin Smith: A lively sense of all that Christ is for us and all that is ours in Him.
Sam Storms: Healthy Christian growth in godliness doesn’t primarily come from trying harder but from enjoying more; or again, pleasure in God is the power for purity in life.
Justin Taylor: The key to healthy growth in godliness is to seek and to enjoy fellowship with the Father, in union with Christ, through the power of the Spirit, in accordance with the Word, with the body of Christ.
Carl Trueman: The key to healthy growth in godliness is to be an active, serving member of a local church where the gospel is preached and the eldership care about nurturing the congregation as outward-looking, humble servants of Christ.
Bruce Ware: Growing knowledge of and love for God, particularly as revealed in Christ and through the Scriptures, that re-structures one’s mind and enflames one’s heart, resulting in increasing transformation into Christ-like character.
Jared Wilson: As pat as the answer may sound, the key to healthy Christian growth in godliness is submissive study of the Scriptures.
Bob Yarbrough: Hard work in response to Christ’s cross.

For me, I can’t think of a better answer than what God said in Colossians 2:6–7: “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

Press on and keep growing in Christ!

Pastor Jeff