It has been a very busy past couple of days with a promise of more effort in the near future. Even as I posted about the need for a Sabbath rest on my Sabbath, I wrote a long blog, prepared a wedding, did a wedding rehearsal, and then participated in a small group at Grace. Not smart! Today, I will be reflecting upon and living this blog post from the summer. May the Lord use it to bless all of our lives!
"For my days to remain healthy, I needed this silence. For to be renewed in strength I needed to come before my God. It is amazing how a few minutes with our God can so energize us and empower us to return to our daily work. To miss out on this time of quiet is to deny ourselves our birthright as daughters and sons of God. If I am to speak meaningfully about God to others, I need to spend time in his presence and learn of his love. In the same way, if I am to talk meaningfully to God about others and his world, I need to be immersed in the world and relate to others." Adam, The Road of Life, 109.
I have so enjoyed reading this book. I have taken the time to ponder, to pray, and to meet with God as I read it. In my years of walking with Christ, I have also found this message to be so true. If you desire more of God in your life, there is no way to get it except to pursue Him!
I am always amazed by those who will then argue theologically with me on this point. They will claim, often with a dismissive and condescending tone, "Don't you know that you have every spiritual blessing in Christ? You do not need more of God!" To this I must say, "Really?" I find that I need more of God's presence and work in my life! The older I get the more I find I need Him. To argue theologically about this reality illustrates an aversion to the gospel, to God's presence, and to our need. As I read scripture and church history, everyone who really walked with God has sought His presence and grown in an awareness of need.
Let me give one example, the Apostle Paul. Paul writes early in his ministry that we are to be imitators of him, just as I am of Christ. In what ways do we imitate him? I believe it was in his humility as he came to Christ for mercy and grace. At the end of his life, Paul writes "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all. And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life." 1 Tim 1:15-16.
The key to this verse is that Paul uses the present tense to describe his life. He is the chief of sinners. I know some will argue that he was using to present tense to show past participation. I find that argument hogwash. As Paul matured in the faith, he understood he had a growing need for Christ. He understood his sinful self-sufficiency and pride as more and more real. Christ came into the world to save sinners, and he knew himself to be the foremost sinner!
This should give us so much hope and encouragement. We do not have to minimize or fake the reality of our sin. We should confess it, repent of it, and seek Christ's help to grow deeper. As we do this, we find God's presence. We also find wisdom, power, grace, love, and mercy. All of this leads to peace and joy. Why? Because we find fellowship with Jesus.
Take a moment to think of the opposite way of growing. I believe this is completely hypothetical because it does not match anyone's experience even as we try to make it match our vision of the Christian life! It has a slight resemblance to the truth, but it ultimately untrue.
Here is the vision of maturity. Believers grow more and more holy as they become more and more immersed in the Christian community. We learn how to put aside sin more and more as we mature in the faith. How? By growing in knowledge and by escaping the evil World. The result of such separation from evil will be that we will grow in our knowledge of God and this leads to us knowing Him better. As a result, we put away our sinful tendencies and grow into Christ. You can tell mature Christians by their personal holiness.
The problem with this vision is not in the goal of personal holiness. The problem is the means of getting to this goal! If knowledge will make us grow, seminary professors and the academic Christians would necessarily be the most holy. Anyone who has been around these folks know this is not true! Perhaps it is those who are strict separatists who declare all worldliness to be the problem? I have also not seen much authentic personal holiness from this crowd. Instead, I find a group of people that deny the power of the gospel to transform their hearts even as they cover up the true condition of their soul.
The real problem with this form of spirituality is that it denies to continued struggle against sin because of the fall. It declares that through self-discipline, we can put aside sin. In its logical conclusion (which few are willing to admit), it leads to a place where we do not need a savior because we now have it all together. Now Jesus is our equal, as we are just like Him.
Such thought does not match the experience of the Apostle Paul. Nor does it match the testimony of anyone I would trust throughout church history. The only folks that believe this embrace the Enlightenment ideal of progress through education (Isn't this ironic given the fundamentalist/separatist hatred of "secular humanism"). Often these well-meaning folks deny the effects of original sin and in the process deny their desperate need for a savior. What is missing in this vision of the Christian life is the gospel. Because it misses the gospel, it is nothing more than bad self-help advice.
So where does it go wrong? The hint of the truth is that maturity will be lived out in personal holiness. As we grow, we do put aside many of the obvious sinful tendencies that marked us. The problem is that our cultural vision of the Christian life dismisses the very power that can change us. If we are honest, we find that as we come to know the real God, we find ourselves struggling more and more with real and damaging sin.
Let's give some clear and concrete examples of what this looks like in real life. At one time, our problem was pornography. Now it is a heart and mind that just thinks of sexual sin seemingly without cause. With just a little nurturing, these heart sins can dominate a person's life. Such a person does not look at porn, but their life is marked by lust. Outwardly, through self-effort, they have become a "victorious" believer over their sin of lust. Inwardly, they have a heart problem that they dare not confess because that would illustrate immaturity. Such a person is setting themselves up for a major fall!
Another common example would be that once our life was marked by outward fighting, brawling, and a rebellious heart. Now we have put aside these outward, immature actions. Unfortunately, our current struggle is with a heart and mind that cannot stop judging others and looking down on those who are different. We become a person who is self-righteous, judgmental, and not loving. We have a major heart issue, but we gather into a community of folks who think like us, so we never see our need for God's grace!
Others have grown to recognize and put aside materialism. They complain about the worldliness and materialism of the "evil people out there" and their fellow believers. Yet, now they find their heart and soul are so captured by temporary comfort and the pleasant events in this life that they take our eyes of Jesus. Soon they wonder where the joy of walking with Christ has gone. As a result, they immerse themselves more and more their hobbies, their families, their vacations, and their daily life. Again, their heart needs a savior, but they are blind to their real need.
So what does this mean? Most of us are completely unaware that our outward actions are driven by our inward, seemingly innate, heart desires. Some of us can, through discipline and self-effort, change our outward actions. The problem is that we cannot change our hearts! Only God's grace and transforming power can change our heart.
Paul's example tells us that as we grow in maturity, we grow in our understanding of our need for a real, gracious and loving savior. Why? Because we grow in our understanding of our rebellious and wandering heart.
So what should we do? Do not pretend that these inward thoughts, desires and sin tendencies do not exist. Do not pretend that you have it all together. Confess your need for a savior and find the mercy and love of Jesus is real and heart-transforming. In other words,
Maturity means that from the outside people can see us growing more holy, but inwardly we grow to understand our need for repentance and faith.
Confess your struggles with others. Pray, seek God's face, have others pray for you. Slow down and seek God in solitude. Most importantly, remember that the gospel is central to all of life. It is not merely a ticket to heaven, but it is the foundation for authentic living in a fallen world.
Will you quiet yourself enough today to listen to the power yet still small voice of the living God?
No comments:
Post a Comment