Growing with God and Man

1 Samuel 2:26 KJV
And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.

This verse tells us as Samuel grew up, he did not become like Eli’s wicked sons. Instead, he kept his relationship with the Lord strong. This steady walk with God birthed integrity into his life that allowed Samuel to also grow in favor with men.

Samuel wasn’t the only one who scripture said grew in this capacity:

Luke 2:52 KJV
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

This verse about Jesus is nearly identical to the verse about Samuel’s development. From this verse, we are shown it is our job to develop 4 sectors of our life:

1. Wisdom - You should be growing your mind daily through reading the word of God and exploring the wisdom and knowledge of those who have lived before you or studied a topic in depth. Learning new things keeps our brains healthy.
2. Stature - A child cannot grow in stature if they are malnourished. Similarly, an adult body will not function to its greatest capacity if it it’s not cared for. Jesus tells us our body is a temple, and temples require maintenance. Spend time walking, eating actual foods that came from the earth, and sleeping right to start.
3. Favor with God - The only way we can have favor with God is to be in a right relationship with God’s son, Jesus Christ. Once you have accepted Christ as your savior, it should be your everyday endeavor to grow your relationship with God by spending time in prayer and in His word.
4. Favor with man - As mentioned earlier, Godly living births integrity into our lives. Following the word of God precludes us from lying, cheating, stealing, and many other behaviors that damage our relationships with our fellow man. So if we stick with God’s word and spend quality time with those around us, we will grow in favor with man.

Sometimes, we let one or a couple of these areas diminish in pursuit of the others. We must follow Jesus’ example and work to develop them all as He did.