To grow spiritually, we must be God directed, not self-directed. The choice to follow God’s direction becomes a lifestyle of trusting Him and pursuing His ways. We cannot grow spiritually without obedience. Obedience has to do with submitting our purpose, values, and choices to God. Obedience integrates all of life, encompassing all of us, both the internal (character) and the external (behavior). The Bible teaches and guides us in all areas of life: money, ministry, gifts, marriage, sex, and so on. Emotional, relational and personal growth relates to spiritual growth as we develop Christ like character qualities. Obedience requires an object. We need to know whom and what to obey. The following are sources to help us grow:
The Commands in the Bible are a foundational source for growth in obedience. The Bible has a great number of universal commands, laws, and principles for how to live our lives. The Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20:3-17) and the two Great Commandments given to us by Jesus, (see Matthew 2:36-40) sum up the Law. Reading the Bible and Bible study are very valuable and helpful ways to understand about God’s laws and principles of how things work in His Kingdom and what is required from us. When we are meditating on God’s Word, the Holy Spirit will give us direction and understanding. The Holy Spirit not only guides us to truth and the revelation of God’s Word, but also directs those who seek His guidance to specific areas of obedience (see Mark 13:11). For example He may direct a person to take a risk in a relationship and deepen emotional intimacy in some area.
Authority is a system designed by God and helps us to grow. We should follow the leadership of the church and its teachers, as long as it is biblical appropriate. For example, a small group leader might have insights and suggestions that can help us through personal issues. Another source is God places people in our life to help us grow. God speaks to us in safe relationships through which He may direct us to confront an issue, confess some brokenness, or deal with some problem or circumstance. Also, be aware that God may arrange events to help you grow in perseverance through difficult circumstances and issues. These different sources of instruction are not in conflict or fragmented. God is One, and the universal meaning of One is unity. He is integrated without conflict or contradiction. If you sense conflicts in the above areas and are not sure how to obey God, ask God to help you find His voice among the many. Look for conformation through other biblical leaders and teachings. Always allow for God’s timing and that the process of change and growth takes time.
The person who is growing needs to understand the importance of obedience. The following are the essential tasks for the grower: Surrender to the Lordship of Christ. The more you surrender your life to His authority and care, the more you are living life the way God had designed it to work. Follow Him Daily. Look at obedience as a daily and continuous process. Watch out for compartmentalizing your growth, going from one small group meeting to the next. Always keep your heart attentive to what God might be saying to you in the Bible, by the Spirit, from His people, or in circumstances. Deal with your character issues. Obeying God is being honest about sin and your inabilities, confessing them, turning from them, and then turning towards God for the answers.
December 19, 2011
December 14, 2011
Failure helps us grow
The life that God would have for us requires obedience to His ways. Obedience is more than simply adhering to specific commands, but rather a way of life that will bring you good fruit and good success. Obedience therefore, is for our own good. Life works better if it belongs to God. The more you surrender your life to His authority and care, the more you are living life as He has designed. For some, making Christ Lord of your life is a clear and defined decision. For others, it is a gradual process of increasingly surrendering your life to Him. Either way, spiritual growth leads you towards making God the center and purpose of your life.
Growth is a process and we sin and fail in many ways. God has taken this into consideration in His growth plan for us. God uses our failures to help restore, grow and mature us. Even though seemingly unfair to some, the reality is we are going to fail and because it is our free will and choice to do so, it is our fault. Sin and immaturity cause us to miss the mark of God’s standard for life. Several spiritual growth approaches try to resolve this dilemma. Some may believe we do not have to fail. We can always be victorious in Jesus by truly making Him Lord of our lives. This approach concludes the person who fails has not totally surrendered themselves to God. It is reasonable to say that this sometimes can be the case, but the reasoning here denies the reality that we are sinners throughout life (see Romans 7:15-19). Supporters to this school of thought do not fully accept that the struggle with sin is a part of the human experience. Another group teaches that the presence of sin is a sign of spiritual immaturity: it is not a surrender issue, but a growth issue. The reasoning here is the more you grow, the less you sin. Therefore the mature person does not sin a lot. While we are always learning and growing, and that we should become more righteous as we mature, the Bible teaches that personal sin will always be present, as in the case of the chief of sinners, the very mature apostle Paul himself (see 1Timothy 1:15). Still yet another group tries to resolve this dilemma by addressing the nature of failure itself. They admit failure happens but that the failure isn’t so bad and that the sin and mistakes are not significant. This is a weak view of sin (see Romans 6:23). A similar teaching believes that though we fail, it really isn’t our fault. Instead of taking responsibility for one’s own sin, the blame goes to those who have taught us and made us who we are: our parents, hurtful relationships, society, the Devil, or even God Himself. Yet we often fail simply because we choose to, and we are ultimately accountable for our decisions and choices (see 2Corithians 5:10).
The Bible’s teaching is much stricter than the approaches above. The reality is we fail, we have a problem we cannot solve, and that we are held accountable. However, the good news is that this dilemma leads us straight into the arms of Jesus. His death is the redemption of our sin and weaknesses. Throughout life we learn to strengthen our faith in His love and forgiveness without resorting to our own efforts. In this sense, our failures bear fruit in a deeper walk with Him. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf; be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Cornthians 5:20-21). We need to be aware of all failure when it arises, and be in a safe place to address it.
Growth is a process and we sin and fail in many ways. God has taken this into consideration in His growth plan for us. God uses our failures to help restore, grow and mature us. Even though seemingly unfair to some, the reality is we are going to fail and because it is our free will and choice to do so, it is our fault. Sin and immaturity cause us to miss the mark of God’s standard for life. Several spiritual growth approaches try to resolve this dilemma. Some may believe we do not have to fail. We can always be victorious in Jesus by truly making Him Lord of our lives. This approach concludes the person who fails has not totally surrendered themselves to God. It is reasonable to say that this sometimes can be the case, but the reasoning here denies the reality that we are sinners throughout life (see Romans 7:15-19). Supporters to this school of thought do not fully accept that the struggle with sin is a part of the human experience. Another group teaches that the presence of sin is a sign of spiritual immaturity: it is not a surrender issue, but a growth issue. The reasoning here is the more you grow, the less you sin. Therefore the mature person does not sin a lot. While we are always learning and growing, and that we should become more righteous as we mature, the Bible teaches that personal sin will always be present, as in the case of the chief of sinners, the very mature apostle Paul himself (see 1Timothy 1:15). Still yet another group tries to resolve this dilemma by addressing the nature of failure itself. They admit failure happens but that the failure isn’t so bad and that the sin and mistakes are not significant. This is a weak view of sin (see Romans 6:23). A similar teaching believes that though we fail, it really isn’t our fault. Instead of taking responsibility for one’s own sin, the blame goes to those who have taught us and made us who we are: our parents, hurtful relationships, society, the Devil, or even God Himself. Yet we often fail simply because we choose to, and we are ultimately accountable for our decisions and choices (see 2Corithians 5:10).
The Bible’s teaching is much stricter than the approaches above. The reality is we fail, we have a problem we cannot solve, and that we are held accountable. However, the good news is that this dilemma leads us straight into the arms of Jesus. His death is the redemption of our sin and weaknesses. Throughout life we learn to strengthen our faith in His love and forgiveness without resorting to our own efforts. In this sense, our failures bear fruit in a deeper walk with Him. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf; be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Cornthians 5:20-21). We need to be aware of all failure when it arises, and be in a safe place to address it.
December 7, 2011
Understanding Obedience
For many people, obeying God and the Bible is a life of being deprived of doing any “fun stuff.” They see God as a cosmic kill joy, withholding any pleasure out of life. They would have to adhere to rules and be self-disciplined. Obedience is at the core of spiritual growth. Obedience does not come naturally; in fact, obedience is anything but easy or simple. In the Bible, to obey means to hear and do. Hearing and doing are deeply interrelated: “It is the Lord your God you must follow and Him you must revere (worthy of great honor). Keep His commands and obey (hear) Him; serve Him and hold fast to Him” (Deut. 13:4). When we hear God as He is, rather than as we desire Him to be, we move toward consistent obedience. For us to grow spiritually, we must be God directed, not self-directed. The choice to follow God becomes a life style and your life’s direction. Obedience is to look outside of self for purpose, values, and decisions. We come to the place after the world has taken its toll on us, and we accept that our way does not work, and that God’s way is the best way to experience life. As we conduct life the way God would have us do it, life works better. Obedience is for our own good. We cannot live apart from God because He is the reason for living.
Obedience integrates all of life, encompasses all of us, both inside and out. Obedience has to do with submitting our bodies, soul (mind, will & emotions), and spirit to the leading of the Holy Spirit and Jesus as Lord. Obedience has to do with learning about your character weaknesses and dealing with them. God asks for no less than total commitment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Mark 22:37-38). There is nothing more important and nothing more demanding. It requires our total being which then saves our lives. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).
Obedience operates through the process of confession and repentance and keeps us on the growth path. For example, most people who avoid deep connections with others have trust issues. They may want to connect but have fears of being hurt or controlled. They want to play it safe but then they become lonely. This conflict disrupts our relationships at work, marriage and friendships. As we enter into the growth process with safe people, we become aware of these two conflicted areas of the heart. Here is where the two types of obedience help us heal and grow: We can begin to commit to the external behavior of staying in contact with people like a church small group. This external commitment keeps us from isolating ourselves and avoiding the loneliness. At the same time, we obey internally by confessing the fears of closeness and the desire to be distant (see James 5:16). As we do this in the safe place of trustworthy friends, we receive their support and encouragement to help integrate the two conflicted areas. We repent by turning from our old ways and begin learning new skills and abilities like boundaries so we set limits on others so we won’t be controlled. We learn to be vulnerable and yet free in our relationships. This is why people pursuing spiritual growth often feel as if they have “come alive” when they see that God speaks to their emotional, personal, and relational lives as well as their spiritual lives. This external and internal nature of obedience helps us to grow up. It helps us to integrate different parts of our character that conflict with one another.
Obedience integrates all of life, encompasses all of us, both inside and out. Obedience has to do with submitting our bodies, soul (mind, will & emotions), and spirit to the leading of the Holy Spirit and Jesus as Lord. Obedience has to do with learning about your character weaknesses and dealing with them. God asks for no less than total commitment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Mark 22:37-38). There is nothing more important and nothing more demanding. It requires our total being which then saves our lives. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).
Obedience operates through the process of confession and repentance and keeps us on the growth path. For example, most people who avoid deep connections with others have trust issues. They may want to connect but have fears of being hurt or controlled. They want to play it safe but then they become lonely. This conflict disrupts our relationships at work, marriage and friendships. As we enter into the growth process with safe people, we become aware of these two conflicted areas of the heart. Here is where the two types of obedience help us heal and grow: We can begin to commit to the external behavior of staying in contact with people like a church small group. This external commitment keeps us from isolating ourselves and avoiding the loneliness. At the same time, we obey internally by confessing the fears of closeness and the desire to be distant (see James 5:16). As we do this in the safe place of trustworthy friends, we receive their support and encouragement to help integrate the two conflicted areas. We repent by turning from our old ways and begin learning new skills and abilities like boundaries so we set limits on others so we won’t be controlled. We learn to be vulnerable and yet free in our relationships. This is why people pursuing spiritual growth often feel as if they have “come alive” when they see that God speaks to their emotional, personal, and relational lives as well as their spiritual lives. This external and internal nature of obedience helps us to grow up. It helps us to integrate different parts of our character that conflict with one another.
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