Do You Know How To Grow In Christ?
Good Morning Friends,
There is a growing sense of emptiness and insecurity gripping the world that should wake us up to the reality that Jesus Christ is needed more than ever. Unfortunately having a religious heritage can either help us or hinder us in cultivating an authentic relationship with God. God is true, right and holy but we humans are not. The bad news is that we are all under sin. The good news is that righteousness comes through a relationship with Jesus. Do You Know How To Grow In Christ?
Scripture: Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging.” But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!
Romans 3:1-8 (NRSV)
Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord; praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time on and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 113 (NRSV)
then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7 (NRSV)
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (NRSV)
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
Galatians 3:11 (NRSV)
Message: Our spiritual growth is similar to the patterns of our physical growth… Sometimes it happens so slowly that we hardly ever notice it. Still there is effort and growth spurts. But not like you might think. If you go into any bookshop today you will find a large section on personal growth. It is a big industry. You will find books on popular psychology. Books on how to be successful in just about every area of your life. Books on being assertive, self-controlled, a leader, a better husband, wife, mother, and father. Even in Christian publishing the personal growth genre is big business. But I have never seen a good book, aside from the Bible, on how to become more generous and how to have greater faith, or how to be small and those are the ones that are perhaps needed most. You see, we cannot grow if we do not accept our smallness. We cannot grow unless God makes it so. Perhaps this is why it is difficult to tell the difference between the Christian books and the non-Christian books. And while all truth is God’s truth there is something special in understanding what it is to have a right relationship with God. For that is at the core of issue. You see God is capable of using good and evil, Christians and Jews, anything and everything for a holy purpose. So this morning we are going to meditate on how people grow spiritually. I am not going to assume that everyone wants to have a right relationship with God. Some reading this may not even believe in God. Still it might be of interest to you what some think a right relationship is regardless of how unrepentant you are. And this starts with understanding what the problem is that necessitates our relationship with the divine in the first place. Now, some of you know the problem, you know the answer to the problem but you need to actually take the step to receive Christ Jesus and to receive his forgiveness. So if you are on the self-help, self-cure, DIY path know this. It does not work when it comes to the long view. Some of you need to hear that this morning because for too long you have believed you are doing okay. Far too many of you say you are ok and you are not – you are lost and deluded like most everyone who wants to save themselves. Some of you this morning need to get back on the path because you have strayed from it and you are wondering why you have stopped growing as a Christian. So I want you to hear God speak. I want you to listen to your soul and feel the intimate relationship with God and know that we are all helpless and hopeless when it comes to sin. Friends, there is a dilemma of grace and a decision of grace and the deliverance of grace. Only God can put you on the right footing. Only God knows your sin better than you know it yourself. God knows you are not worthy but loved you in the womb and even though you are a sinner, God offers forgiveness that opens to door to a relationship of growth that is healthy. The door to spiritual growth is open right now. It is a gift to walk through it.
Pray we come alive in Christ. Pray God breath spiritual life into us now. Pray we grow in Christ. Pray we are less connected to the things of this world. Pray we are more engaged in God’s word. Pray we are less doubtful about God’s control over our lives. Pray we are more concerned about our own motives and integrity than of others. Pray we are less anxious and worried over troubles. Pray our first response is to pray. Pray we are less angry when things do not go our way. Pray we accept God’s grace but do not use grace as a reason to keep on sinning.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 