Is it possible to be a stagnant Christian? Can a Christian who professes Christ not grow spiritually?

As Christians, there are times when we don’t experience any spiritual growth or movement.

This may be a time of testing, trial and trouble.

If we are honest with ourselves, as believers, there are times when we hit a low point. This is where the flesh gets the best of us. Maybe we have been exposed to relationships that have broken us down where we expected them to build us up. Perhaps circumstances or people have disappointed us. It may be that we have been battling a particular kind of sin and temptation, which has taken away our joy and made us depressed.

There is no doubt that we can have spiritual experiences where we experience highs and lows. There are times when we feel triumphant in Christ, and then there are times when we feel like failures, who have disappointed the Lord.

This is why we live most of our lives constantly bouncing back and forth between praise and confession.

However, it’s not unusual for this to happen to us as Christians. That’s why Jesus taught to pray with these words: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” and “Forgive us our trespasses.”

We see here that Jesus shows us two facets of our Christian walk as we alternate between praise and penance.

We shouldn’t be surprised when problems come along, and neither should we remain stagnant in those situations. We are to rise, repent and praise God for His mercy and redemption.

“Can a Christian profess Christ but show no spiritual growth?”

The answer is no. If there is no spiritual growth in a professing believer, there is no spiritual life. This is because if there is life, there must be growth.

If we were to plot a Christian life on a graph, the trajectory of Christian growth should always be upwards towards Christlikeness. The growth might flatten out at times and then grow a little and flatten out again, but overall there is always growth.

The same way as human life or a tree grows naturally,  professing Christians who shows no growth or movement demonstrates that their hearts have not been changed. It does not mean a Christian will rocket straight up to Christlikeness; his or her growth is staggered but it happens nonetheless.

As a Christian, our spiritual growth is by grace, and how fast we grow is determined by how well we draw upon the means of grace available to us through daily prayer, meditation, and fellowship with others.