Below are some random questions. Some are more reflective than others, but all are ones that cause me to think and do a bit of “soul searching.” Hope you spend some time thinking through them as well.
Tag: spiritual growth
It’s graduation season which means it’s time for graduation speeches. Many of them sound the same. “Pursue your dreams!” “Don’t ever give up…EVER!!!” And of course, Winston Churchill is quoted often using a quote from a graduation speech he gave in 1941. “Never give in,” he said. “Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
The similarity in each one is really okay with me however. Granted, there are a few speeches each year that are noted for their peculiarity (consider Joss Whedon’s speech to Wesleyan University where his opening was “What I’d like to say to all of you is that you are all going to die.”). But even in the ones that seem strange, the message continues to be one of inspiration. And rightly so.
I’ve never been asked to give a graduation speech. And if I am ever asked, I’m not sure what I would say, but it would be short. I realize that people who attend a graduation are not that interested in the graduation speaker. They want to see their son, daughter, grandchild, brother, sister, or friend walk the stage. I would not want to delay that process any longer than necessary.
However, though I have not given a graduation speech, I have spoken several times to high school graduates in a church setting. “Senior Sunday” is fairly popular in churches where I live and I’m glad it is. Any time we can encourage others to continue in the faith is a good thing. And “Senior Sundays” are those type events where we can do so.
I always wonder what to say at “Senior Sundays”, however. Or maybe I should say that I have problems finding what not to say. Since I work on a college campus and meet hundreds of high school graduates each year, I have a lot of thoughts, but I have realized that not everyone cares about the things I think they should care about. So what do I say? Well, this year, in order to be concise, I have come up with a list of just 5 things. Here they are…
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Let THE STORY continue to write YOUR STORY!!!!
THE STORY is the gospel. It is the story that God created you for His love, by His love, and in His love. And that love never stops. It didn’t stop when Adam and Eve disobeyed. And His love is most evident when we look at the cross. It is by the cross that we see that God seeks us, forgives us, and reestablishes our relationship with Him so that we can once again be who we were created to be. This is THE STORY.
2. Remember that your faith in God is a journey.
Life is pretty daily. And it can also be mundane and even boring at times. But it’s all part of the journey. Your walk with God will be a series of ups and downs. There will be times when God seems so present that you think you can reach out and touch Him and there will also be times when you wonder where He went? There will be times of happiness, joy, grief, and disappointment. This is life on this earth. But continue the journey and remember THE STORY.
3. Don’t go it alone!!!!
Enter a group that will encourage, challenge, equip, strengthen, and spur you on to keep THE STORY central in your life. This involves attending church, but it’s bigger than just attending. It’s allowing people to push you as you walk through life. It’s about being discipled by others while learning to make disciples yourself.
4. Wherever or whenever you are, be all there!
It’s easy to keep looking to the next big thing. We must remember however, that life is lived in the “meantime.” It’s today!” What you are doing today, though it might be preparation for the future, is still a moment to be lived in the now. Don’t rush. Wake up to see where God has you. Remember to live in God’s Story!
5. Love people!
This was the mantra of my grandfather. He loved people! And others knew it. Love is the most powerful force in the world. It’s what everyone is craving. Everyone wants to be loved for who they are regardless of what they have done.
So that’s it! Pretty simple and probably not unique compared to all that will be said in the next few weeks during “Senior Sundays.” But that’s okay and good. We continue to need to encourage everyone, not just High School graduates, with these words!
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Pride is our greatest enemy! It has been defined as “contending for the supremacy of God.” Basically, pride causes us to think that we no longer need God. We tell ourselves we are ok. Pride causes us to go blind to our need for anything or anyone other than ourselves. Even as we grow in holiness, pride has a way of implanting in us and germinating into a desire for recognition of our new found godliness.
The Bible is fairly clear about the dangers of Pride. Solomon writes that pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). Jesus declared that pride was one of the things that comes from within a person and defiles him (see Mark 7:14-23). And James writes that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
So how do we grow in humility? First and foremost, we look to the cross. John Stott writes:
Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, “I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.” Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.
The deeper we go in understanding the cross, the more humility will ooze from our souls. The cross is where our greatest need was satisfied. The debt of our sin which we could not pay, was paid by Christ. God justified us, redeemed us, reconciled us, and is now transforming us by His grace and grace alone through the cross of Christ. It is not by our works or merit, but by grace in which we are saved.
Second, we grow in humility when we understand that our sin is just as great as those around us. Why is it that we see the sin in our lives akin to nothing more than a small habit problem while we view the sin of others as that which deserves God’s discipline? Collin Hansen, in his new book Blind Spots, writes that “if your sin is somehow less deserving of judgment that someone else’s, you’re in trouble.”
Third, growth in humility happens as we begin to preach the gospel to ourselves daily. The emphasis here needs to be on DAILY. Milton Vincent writes:
Nothing suffocates my pride more than daily reminders regarding the glory of my God, the gravity of my sins, and the crucifixion of God’s own Son in my place. Also, the gracious love of God, lavished on me because of Christ’s death, is always humbling to remember, especially when viewed against the backdrop of the Hell I deserve.
Preaching the gospel daily to yourself means you must find time to open God’s word and read it. And hopefully, not just read it, but study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. We need to be reminded each day of who we are and what God has done for us by the cross.
Finally, we must understand that growth in humility is a supernatural undertaking. It is dangerous to think that you have the power within you to develop an attitude of humility. It is our union with Christ, as His Spirit works within us, that transforms us. No doubt, God uses the daily preaching of the gospel to ourselves, etc…, but we must understand that it is God who works in us to conform us to the image of Christ.
Defeating pride is humbling yourself before God. It’s accepting Him at His word and trusting Him to do for you what you can’t do for yourself. It’s allowing His Spirit to change you to be that for which you were created.
And as we pursue Christlike humility, we do well to remember that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:14).
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I’m a big fan of practicing the spiritual disciplines (though I myself consistently falter in each of them). It’s vital for believers to read, study, meditate, and memorize Scripture. Communion with God through prayer and worship is also essential. However, we do well to remember the purpose of spiritual disciplines.
Brian Hedges writes that “the disciplines are meant to turn us into missionaries, not monks. The disciplines start in the closet, but end in the street. True Christlikeness is measured not by the breadth of your knowledge or the length of your prayers, but the depth of your love for others.”
“Christians feed on Scripture,” writes Eugene Peterson. But “Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus’ name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.”
Similarly, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis write, “Biblical spirituality does not take place in silence; it takes place bearing a cross. It is not a spirituality of withdrawal but a spirituality of engagement. You do not practice it on a retreat in a secluded house; you practice it on the streets in the midst of broken lives.”
Paul writes: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Spiritual disciplines are not an end in themselves. They are designed for God to transform us in living lives of love, humility, obedience, and sacrifice in a world of pain.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:1-2).
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Below are 10 quotes from Paul Tripp’s book Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry. Though the title implies it might be a book just for pastors, I have found that any believer would benefit from reading this book for two reasons. First, Tripp’s basic premise is how we must continue to understand our daily need of God’s grace. All of us would do well to continue to read of our need in this area. And second, it would assist us in empathizing with the demands and pressures of pastoral ministry.
Here are 10 quotes from the book that I have found both challenging and thought-provoking…
Leave a CommentAutonomous Christianity never works, because our spiritual life was designed by God to be a community project (p. 38).
Bad things happen when maturity is more defined by knowing that it is by being. Danger is afloat when you come to love the ideas more than the God whom they represent and the people they are meant to free (p. 42).
It is your own daily experience of the rescue of the gospel that gives you a passion for people to experience the same rescue (p. 64).
Could it be that many of the stresses of ministry are the result of our seeking to get things out of ministry that it will never deliver? (p. 102).
Once something is our treasure, it will command our desires and shape our behavior (p. 103).
No one gives grace better than a person who is deeply persuaded that he needs it himself and is being given it in Christ. This tenderness causes me to be gracious, gentle, patient, understanding, and hopeful in the face of the sin of others, while never compromising God’s holy call (p. 122).
We must never forget that we earned neither our standing with the Lord nor our place in ministry (p. 161).
It’s pride, not humility, that makes it hard to say no (p. 162).
We must remember that there is no grace that we offer to others that we don’t at once need ourselves (p. 194).
Ministry is war for the gospel in your own heart (p. 203).
Do we measure our spiritual life in superficial ways?
This question, written by John Ortberg, is one that I continually have to ask myself. And I think it’s one every believer needs to consider.
So let’s think about it. How do you know if you are growing spiritually? Does it mean you read the Bible every day, write in a journal, and pray for your family and neighbors? I do believe praying and reading the Bible are important, I’m not saying they are not, but is that the end goal?
John Ortberg writes…
For many years I thought about [spiritual growth] only in terms of a few special activities. If someone asked me how my spiritual life was going, my first thought would be how I was doing at having a quiet time–praying and reading the Bible each day. If I had prayed and read the Bible for several consecutive prior days, I was likely to say that my spiritual life was going well. If not, I was likely to feel guilty and downcast. So prayer and Bible study became the gauge of my spiritual condition. As long as I did those two things I could go though the day confident of God’s approval (The Life You’ve Always Wanted, p. 42-43)
Our spiritual life should not be measured, therefore, by our reading the Bible through in a year or praying for 30 minutes a day. “The real issue,” writes Ortberg, “is what kind of people are we becoming.” “Practices such as reading Scripture and praying are important” continues Ortberg, “not because they prove how spiritual we are, but because God can use them to lead us into life.”
The question we need to be asking ourselves is: “Am I growing in love for God and people?”
I’m always reminded of my grandfather when I think about loving God and loving others. His motto was: “You gotta love people!” No doubt he read the Bible and prayed, but it wasn’t his Bible reading plan that had a huge affect on me. It was his life. I’ve had the opportunity, because of seminary, to read much more theology and Biblical studies than my grandfather ever did, and yet, I still have so much to learn from him in regards to loving others.
Don’t misread what I’m writing here. I think one ought to spend one’s life seeking to understand the Bible. If you have opportunity, read theology and anything else that will help you to grasp God’s Word. I think my grandfather loved others because of the impact of Scripture upon his life. It was through God’s Word that he arrived at a deep understanding of the grace of God. But let’s be careful in assuming that our knowledge of Scripture, along with our daily Bible reading and praying, are marks of our spiritual maturity.
We do well to constantly remember the words of Jesus…
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Mt. 22:36-40)
Are we growing in our love for God and others? It is this question that should provide the mark for our spiritual maturity!
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What is true spirituality? Is it some other-worldy type living that is disconnected from real life? In other words, does being spiritual result in us becoming more angelic? Or is true spirituality merely learning what it means to be truly human?
Consider the following words from Rodney Clapp and Richard Lovelace…
Christian spirituality is for people, not angels. Christian spirituality is the whole person’s participation and formation in the church–Christ’s body, the Spirit’s public–which exists to entice and call the world back to its Creator, its true purpose, and its only real hope.
Christian spirituality is for people: bodily, social, embedded in time.
-Rodney Clapp in Tortured Wonders
True spirituality is not superhuman religiosity; it is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit. This is given to us as we grasp by faith the full content of Christ’s redemptive work: freedom from the guilt and power of sin, and newness of life through the indwelling and outpouring of his Spirit
-Richard Lovelace in Dynamics of Spiritual Life
According to Clapp and Lovelace, spirituality is not becoming so heavenly minded that you become no earthly good. Nor is it becoming so attuned to the world we live in that we forget we are citizens of another kingdom (see Phil. 3:20).
True spirituality is learning to be truly human. It is about being redeemed by God to once again, depend upon Him for life, goodness and happiness. And it is doing so in the midst of a world that is broken needing to hear and see what it really means to be human.
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Are you an expert in the gospel? That which Paul claimed to be of “first importance,” which is that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3-4), is this what you are well trained in?
“All Christians,” writes Milton Vincent, “should become experts in their knowledge and use of the gospel, not simple so they can share it faithfully with non-Christians, but also so they can speak it to themselves everyday and experience its benefits.”
We must understand that the gospel is for Christians. True, it’s through the hearing of the gospel by which we are saved, but we never move beyond it. Nor does there come a time we do not need it.
It’s by the gospel that we are transformed as we understand it more completely. As we hear, read, mediate, and memorize the glorious truth of God’s grace found in the person and work of Christ, our hearts are compelled to follow the one who gave himself up for us.
Therefore, we must work at becoming experts in the gospel. We must not become weary from “preaching the gospel to ourselves” each day. We must seek to memorize and meditate upon gospel passages such as Ephesians 1-3, Colossians 1-2, and Romans 1-11.
“If Christians would do more preaching of the gospel to themselves,” writes Vincent, “non-Christians might have less trouble comprehending its message, for they would see its truth and power exuding from believers in indisputable ways.”
So will you work at becoming an expert in the gospel? Will you daily place in front of your eyes, ears, mind, and heart the wonderful grace of Jesus?
Everything in our world speaks against the truths found in the gospel. Our world is not full of grace and mercy, but rather unforgiveness and disdain. Therefore, we must daily seek to know the reality that we are “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved” (Col 3:12). And we must become experts in such truths!!
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