God saves AND causes growth - 1 Corinthians 3-4

What makes a baby grow? Every day after birth the baby is growing more and more. Parents do nothing but feed the baby. Soon, crawling then walking. Soon, jumping and running. Soon, goooing and then talking. Soon, staring then thinking. Babies grow to be people. God has cared for that process through creation. So, what happens to a "baby Christian?" God births the believer, then what? According to our passage today, the same process begins to take place. Baby Christians are supposed to grow and they grow by taking in food (God's Word) and then God does something to make them grow (1 Cor. 3:6,7). God causes the growth. First crawling in the flesh then walking in the Spirit. First speaking with the tongue of flesh than with the tongue of the Spirit. God is in the process of growing every believer. The believer's responsibility it to take in the food of God's Word. God then uses that food with the Spirit's work to produce a mature adult believer. That is the process. There is no other. We don't skip any processes, either. We don't get to rush to believer "adult-hood" because we are special. God birthed us through the gospel and He is growing us through the Word. Every minute in God's Word is another moment God can use to grow us. Our growing is directly proportionate to the time we spend in God's Word. How much have you been growing?