I’m intrigued as I write the chapter on “Growing as Becoming” for my next book, Growing a Generous Soul. People can measure growth in many different ways, but how do you measure growth in faith? Faith is not a static trait or characteristic. Neither is it a set of beliefs, as in faith in someone or something. Faith is trust in God, and because it is trust, we cannot ever have fully attained it; it’s a process. Faith can grow with our life experiences, as we become more confident in God’s faithfulness along the way.

So maybe you can’t exactly measure faith, but sometimes you can sense when it deepens and widens in people’s lives: by how they live and act toward others. “We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right,” Paul says to the Thessalonians, “because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.” (2 Thess. 1:3)

This points out the horizontal mutuality of faith, as well. The more our trust in God grows, the more loving our treatment of other people can become.

Your partner in ministry,

Betsy Schwarzentraub