Thank you Lord! It is finally Spring! Bring on the blooming flowers, the blue skies and breezy, open-sweater weather.
That's when it's a little nippy outside so you throw on a cardigan, but it's warm enough to keep the cardigan open so you get a little swing going when you walk.
It’s kind of the same when you're growing in your faith.
Last year I started a series called "Being a Productive Christian" based on a 2 Peter 1:5-7. In those verses, Peter gives us a eight-step formula to becoming a fruitful Christ follower.
The steps are
1. Faith
2. Goodness
3. Knowledge
4. Self Control
5. Persistence
6. Godliness
7. Mutual Affection
8. Love
To be honest, I started the series with a post about faith and then stopped. I got stuck on the first step because truth be told faith is more than just accepting the Lord as your savior.
Don't get me wrong, it's a big deal when someone makes the decision to break away from their sinful past and become a new creation. In fact, the Bible says the angels in heaven literally have a party.
But then you have to adjust to a new pattern of living. As a child, your parents groomed you to become a independent, self-reliant adult.
Growing up, my dad constantly reminded me and my siblings that once we turned 18, ready or not, we had to move out. Joke's on him though. After college, I moved back home and lived there until I was 28. Ha!
But my point is we were taught that becoming an adult meant becoming independent from your parents and family.
Spiritually it's actually the other way around.
But my point is we were taught that becoming an adult meant becoming independent from your parents and family.
Spiritually it's actually the other way around.
As babes in Christ, growing in faith means becoming increasingly more dependent on our heavenly father. If you're waiting for the moment when you can get rid of the training wheels and walk this faith out on your own, forget about it. It won't work.
Unfortunately that's where many Christians mess up.
Once they begin their faith journey, they jump into action: they join a church, maybe take on a ministry or two, and of course they go to church on Sundays. On paper, they're faith all-stars.
But they forget about the dependency part.
But they forget about the dependency part.
On paper the Church of Ephesus was also a rock star.
The Lord described the church in Revelations 2:2-3 saying "I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary."
So far, It's looks this church has faith by the bucket-full. But then Jesus flips the script in verses 4 and 5.
"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place, unless you repent."
Whoa. How could Christians who are that devoted be far from God? Some where along the line, this church lost it's dependence on God and began just going through the motions.
It's the same thing that tripped up Moses. Moses served God faithfully through the highs and lows of escaping bondage in Egypt. But the constant nagging and complaints of the Israelites drove him to the point that he was just doing his own thing, striking the rock when God said to talk to it.
God rebuked him saying "because your didn't trust me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I have given them."
It's not enough to go through the motions; God wants complete trust and dependency.
That's why the Apostle Paul says to test yourself to see if you are in the faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5)
The act of questioning where you are in the faith journey is important, because it's possible for even the most involved, most active Christians to be distant from God.
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