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| What happens when we no longer seek to grow spiritually? |
In part one of this series I confessed that my own spiritual growth has been slow. Over the years, I've heard this same confession from a few pastors and Christian leaders. Often a young Christian will experience a spurt of growth just after conversion, along with an experiential sense of God's presence -- a spiritual high. Then things get back to normal. They have a new world view that has stuck, as well as a solid moral compass, but they perceive day-to-day life with the same five physical senses that unbelievers possess. They (Christians) don't really feel all that spiritual.
Inner growth, for the Christians, slows down as they age. However, there's often an acute awareness of their remaining flaws and sinfulness. Growth slows, but an awareness of sin continues. I would say this is a healthy place for Christians. It can become unhealthy when we allow the awareness of our sin to produce guilt feelings. After all, we are completely forgiven by Christ's atoning sacrifice.
Earlier I mentioned the illustration by Teresa of Avila about how God wants to love and nurture us even among the weeds of our garden (soul). Dr. John Coe takes it further by saying we shouldn't allow shame to cause us to close God off from those weeds. Tragically, like Adam and Eve after the fall, we want to hide from God -- just when we need Him the most. However, the weeds won't be destroyed unless we open these hidden parts of our heart to God. It's an important aspect of our love relationship with Him.
I don't hear a lot of sermons about the "how to's" of spiritual growth. Occasionally it's mentioned, but not with much detail. If spiritual growth is emphasized in a church, discouragement within the congregation will likely follow because the people don't see much maturity happening in their lives. It's kind of like the topic of spiritual gifts. Sometimes I think pastors avoid speaking about gifts because the congregants inevitably start whining about their lack of talent and ability and how they feel useless in the church. Pastors may opt not to open that can of worms. So a rare sermon on spiritual gifts usually just segs into how we should be content with simply being servants. After all, the spiritual gifts are given for the edification of the Church. If you serve, you edify. There is a danger, however, of stifling unique gifts in favor of good ol' worker bees, which are drones.
My cynical side may be coming out. Back to the original question: Why make the effort to grow spiritually if it's so slow? I'll offer a couple of answers. First, we should aspire for growth because it's God's will that we do so. Hebrews 5:12-6:1 reads, "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity...." If God wants us to mature, then we should be faithful to do our part in the process.
Another reason we should push ourselves for growth goes something like this: If you're not moving forward, you're moving backward. Likewise: Use it or lose it. Or: Do or die. So, even though maturity is often slow, our current health as a Christian requires that we continue to seek God's face and practice the spiritual disciplines (prayer, reading the Word, fellowship with believers, confession, obedience, service, etc.). These disciplines help accomplish two things: spiritual growth (which is future oriented) and maintenance (now oriented) of my current faith. My perseverance in the faith might not result in fast growth -- but it will certainly prevent a spiritual disaster. If I don't do my part in cleansing the waters of my soul, then I will stagnate; and if I stagnate, my life will eventually become a lifeless, stinky cesspool.
I guess it's testimonial time. At about the age of 10 or 11 I became a Christian. After that conversion, there were about three times over the years when I entered periods of significant rebellion against God. During those times, I wanted nothing to do with God, the Bible, prayer or Christians. Of course these phases included a fair amount of fleshly sinning. My life became a stinking cesspool. At the end of each rebellious phase, a crisis or epiphany brought me to my senses and I turned my life back to the Lord.
When I think back, a period of rebellion didn't just instantly happen. It would occur gradually. I'd read the Bible less and less, pray less and less, focus less on God and more on the world. Then I'd commit some big fleshly sin and not confess it to God. Before I knew it, I was drowning in a cesspool of rebellion. Of course, God was always waiting with open arms. In His sovereignty, He'd find a way to draw me back.
So, the point is we should always be doing our part to cultivate our hearts for growth. The Holy Spirit is the chief Gardener of our souls, and He asks us to do some of the chores. Sometimes it seems like boring maintenance, with not much growth, but if we fail to do our assigned tasks, the garden will soon get weedier and more diseased.
The same spiritual disciplines that help facilitate growth (which is future oriented), also provide "now" maintenance, keeping our souls healthy in the present. This is an important reason why we should continue to persevere in the slow growth process.
Oops, I was supposed to write about reconciliation, which is the wonderful result of propitiation and justification. Perhaps next time.
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