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Choose to Keep Growing Spiritually

Some of the most wonderful friends I have are older now. Physically, they have lost the vigour of youth, but they are still a great blessing to all kinds of people. Because of the length of their life and the extent of all the connections they’ve made, they often bless people far beyond the reach of those of us who are younger. They remind me that spiritual maturity isn’t a point we aim at. It’s a process we engage in.

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-2, Paul warns against stagnating in an immature state: “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal.”

In spite of the cultural differences between the Corinthians and ourselves, the general condition may be the same - we, too, can be stuck in immaturity. We accept the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sin and find ourselves ushered into the family of God, but instead of continuing to grow we say, “Oh good! I’m saved. That wasn’t so hard. Now I’ll just get on with my life.”

No! God wants us to keep moving ahead, moving toward conformity to the image of Christ. This is God’s purpose for us. Just as a tree never stops growing throughout its entire life, so we, as believers, should continue to grow spiritually in our likeness to Christ and that needs to take place in a couple of ways.

As we look at the ministry of the Lord Jesus, it is easy for us to emphasize the softer side, the “gentle Jesus meek and mild” – healing the sick, ministering to people who needed encouraging, feeding the hungry and so on. But remember that Jesus stood against evil as well. He wasn’t afraid to take it on. He cleansed the temple. He spoke sharply to the Pharisees. He challenged the unbelief of His disciples.

As Christians living in an increasingly secular society, it is easy for us to withdraw. Each small incremental step downward hardly seems worth making a fuss over. We say “Surely we are not going to the wall on this. I would just look stupid if I stood up and made a big noise about this.” I feel personally convicted about this as I regard where our culture has gone in the last ten years or so. The structure of basic institutions has been significantly adjusted. Political correctness has become entrenched in ways which limit a variety of freedoms we once enjoyed. But while Christians disapprove, we haven’t stood against these things effectively. Where do we start?

Recently, I came across a disturbing idea which Dietrich Bonhoeffer highlighted. He described “the monastic urge” which Christians tend to follow in the face of great evil. In the early centuries of the faith, when the church fathers were confronted with systemic cultural evil, some headed for the North African desert. They reasoned that if they became hermits or lived in small monastic communities of like-minded Christians, they could avoid the effects of evil.

We all have that “monastic urge” in us. When we look at the spiritual decline in our culture, we mentally head for the desert. Physically we still inhabit the same environment, but in our minds we retreat to some private space where we feel spiritually safe. The problem is that God doesn’t call us to a cloister, literal or figurative. He calls us to engage with people and that is messy.

In Hebrews 5:12 to 6:1 the challenge to grow spiritually comes in a slightly different way. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Here we see people who became stalled at some elementary stage of spiritual maturity. Both Paul and the writer to the Hebrews compare this to infancy. We’ve all seen how babies act and we don’t like the association. Compare us to teenagers if you have to, but babies... That is really insulting. Take a two year old who is just learning to feed him or herself. The parent thinks “This is going to be such a mess.” Sure enough, the kid ends up wearing most of the food. The parent doesn’t like the mess, but the kid is thinking “That was really fun and I got some food into my mouth. I made great progress. I am doing really well.”

Fortunately, this stage passes and the child gradually becomes more adept at eating in what we might call a civilized manner. But the New Testament authors see a spiritual danger. Christians can get stuck in the baby stage. We learn to feed ourselves a bit. Though we make a big mess, we don’t see that. We just feel good about what we have done. Sometimes, we feel so good that we don’t move on. Our human nature prompts us to be content. But spiritual maturity is a process which keeps driving us along. As we cooperate with the Spirit, significant spiritual change happens. That’s the goal. That’s what we are working toward.

Here’s one last thing I’ve observed about spiritual growth. Once you have spiritual insight of some kind you have to do something with it. You can accept it and grow as God intended, or you can reject it and stall your spiritual development. If you do that, you’ll be stuck at whatever stage of development you’ve reached until you accept that insight, internalize it and apply it to your life. May I recommend that you process insights as soon as you have them, otherwise, you’ll not make any progress until you do.

Ron Hughes
© April 2009