Renewing and Growing
First and foremost would be a knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. This comes through not just Bible reading, but Bible study. Prayer is necessary; pain is necessary, yes, you read it right. Pain is an essential part of Christian growth. Peter encourages us in his first epistle that the trials of our faith are given so that we may grow in our hope. James reminds us that these trials enable us to know patience, so that we can become complete, mature and lacking no good thing. Paul sums this teaching up this way:
“…but we, also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Hoy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:3-5
The writer of Hebrews commends the saints for their faith that caused them to face imprisonment and chains; those who were tortured and refused to be released. Some of these were stoned, flogged and even put to death by the sword. Many were persecuted and mistreated, yet they endured all these things so that they may gain a better resurrection (Heb.11:36-38).
If you and I would take a good honest look back into our Christian walk we would have to admit that it was during the hard times that we grew the most. We realized during the battles that God fought for us and ultimately brought about the victory. When we were sick or near death’s door, it was God who healed us. When we needed food and clothing; again, it was God who provided for our needs. We trusted Him when the chips were down and He led us in triumphal procession!
Solomon draws a parallel of this biblical truth of growth: “If a man pampers his servant from youth, he will bring you grief in the end.”
Sometimes I wonder what my life here on earth would be like if there was no trouble to deal with. I trust God –but I don’t trust me! I think if I lived the “silver-spooned” life I would become one spoiled brat. I would always want God to bless me with money, so I wouldn’t have any financial woes. I think I would like to be extremely healthy and immune to any sort of disease or sickness. I would want to be able to do whatever I felt to do –so I wouldn’t get bored. I would want God to bless me with all kinds of smarts and talents so that people would like me and accept me for who I am. And since we are acting this foolish, I want to know everything everybody else does –only, I want to be right all the time. Do you know what I would become if God did all these things for me? I would become a spoiled brat and a blubbering idiot that was so bored with life, that I would probably want to end it.
God knows that if He delivered us out of all our trials and blessed us all the time we would never grow up in the faith. In fact, God warned the Israelites to be careful not to forget Him after He blessed them with all the blessings of the Promise Land. Yet, that is exactly what happened. Our nature is to forget God when things are going smoothly and the things of this world are shining brilliantly. But like the wine that sparkles in the glass but bites like a viper in the end, so are the things of this world to the spiritual man. We become like Samson, holding on to the things of this world without ever realizing that the Spirit of God has been grieved and is no longer walking with us. Sooner or later, we end up in a desert or wilderness, or worst yet, a quagmire of the filth that God had delivered us out of.
I would much rather experience the struggles of faith testing trials than have to put up with a guilty conscious. But no matter what we may be experiencing, grief, suffering, loneliness, guilt or shame; these are prime feelings in which God is able to renew us.
“Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit in me.” (Ps.51:10) “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Ro.12:2) “He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.” (Ru.4:15)
When God renews your heart and mind He creates in you a thankful heart which prepares the way for God to move in closer in your life. Thus, you become stronger for the next battle. The Christian life is a journey to Heaven with growth and renewal playing a big part in it.
Experiencing God’s Mercy
Moses told the Israelites
that the Lord, their God was a merciful God and that
He would never abandon them, nor forget the covenant
that He had established with them. Paul tells us that
though we were all dead (spiritually), God, who is
rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ Jesus. And
finally, Peter tells us,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,
that you might declare the praises of him who has
called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the
people of God; once you had not received mercy, but
now you have received mercy.” 1Pe.2:9,10
No matter how you slice it; God is full of mercy. And
because He is full of mercy we can surmise that His
mercy is as infinite as He is. Therefore, God’s
mercy will never end. A. W. Tozer said it the best in
his study on the attributes of God: “Mercy
never began to be, but from eternity was; so it will
never cease to be… As judgment is God’s
justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the
goodness of God confronting human suffering and
guilt. Were there no guilt in the world, no pain and
no tears, God would yet be infinitely merciful; but
His mercy might well remain hidden in His heart,
unknown to the created universe.” Years ago,
while I was working at Clow, a deer had been spooked
out of the nearby woods and right into the factory!
It frantically tried to find its way out and in the
process ran between the pipe piles. Well, the poor
thing picked the wrong piles. The two piles were not
exactly lined up parallel with each other, but were
closer to each other at one end forming a
“V.” The deer ran so hard through those
pipes, that he got stuck, jammed at the shoulders by
the pipe. He kicked about, twisting as much as he
could. He cried out and even tried to back out, but
he wasn’t budging. What I noticed was the
deer’s determination to continue in the way he
was going. He thought that was the way out, yet I
knew that the more he moved forward the more stuck he
would become. Nevertheless, he was moving forward
even if the iron pipe began to tear away at his hide.
He also wanted no part of our help. Every time we
would get close he panicked all the more. He
didn’t realize that we were trying to help him;
we were trying to set him free. This is the best
analogy that I could come up with as far as man
receiving the mercy of God. You see, God sees the
trouble that we are in and He fully understands our
dilemma. He moves in mercy towards us but we think we
know better than Him on how we need to remedy our
situation. Sometimes we are so determined to go our
way (just like the deer) that we get ourselves jammed
up even more. We try to justify our actions and
pretend that our problems are not as bad as they
appear. We blame others for our circumstances to
lessen our guilt and shame. We are stuck fast and the
predicament is like quicksand. God throws a lifeline
but we are looking for something else! If we
don’t think we need His help, why on earth
would we look for His lifeline? I think that we would
see more of the mercy of God if we saw our condition
more like He sees it. The other day a man called to
see if the church could purchase a battery for his
girlfriend’s car. He explained that they have
all their money wrapped up in the purchase of their
new house. Have you noticed how people in this day
and age think that the church is here to help people
out of their temporal problems but when it comes to
their souls… well, they will be just fine,
thank you very much. In other words, “Help me
out of this pickle, but don’t confront me with
Jesus Christ.” Listen, I’ve got news for
the world; Jesus Christ is the merciful lifeline that
God throws out to us and everybody that sees Him as
such will receive that mercy. For everyone that calls
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!
The Question that Remains
Going back to the Gospels and searching out those questions that were asked of Jesus, I would say that ninety percent of them were not answered in the way that the inquisitor thought they should be. For example; when the Jews demanded to know by what authority Jesus was doing certain things is answer was simply a question to them. “John’s baptism, was it from men or from heaven? The Jews discussed it among themselves and concluded that if they would answer; from men, they would fear the revolt of the people, for they knew the people thought that John was indeed sent from God. But, if they said from Heaven, then the questioned would remain; why then, didn’t they believe him?
While talking with a great many people over the years, believers and nonbelievers alike, I have found a predominant theme when it comes to their doubts about faith. They argue that they have prayed about such and such and still there is no answer, no relief, and no direction. As for the Christian, this is doubly hard, for they know that God is listening. Why isn’t He answering? I have two possible reasons why people are not hearing from God. The first one is the obvious one; maybe they prayed to the wrong god! There is only One Way to communicate with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If one tries any other way, well they may as well be talking to a wall. The second reason may be a little more obscure, but that would be just because we may not be as spiritually sensitive as we might think that we are. I wonder how many times people have asked God in prayer for this or that and walked away from that prayer thinking that the silence was God not answering, when all along the silence was more preferable (to us) than the question that came from God. Is it true that we hear only what we want to hear? Maybe if we approached prayer with the heart to hear from God, no matter what He asks, then we may hear more from God? We are constantly asking God… I wonder if He does the same?
Pastor Jim
“The Way”
The good news therefore, is that Jesus Christ came and lived perfectly to God for all mankind. He resisted doing things His way and resisted evil even to the point of death. This is why the Garden of Gethsemane was such an integral part in the salvation of man. Jesus cried out to God, “Not my will (way) but Thy will (Way) be done. Therefore, Jesus became God’s Way for the salvation of sinners and the only Way to God. This is the good news: God has made a Way for all of us to return to doing things God’s Way and He did it through the life, death and resurrection of His Only Begotten. Though we were made after the likeness of the first Adam, it is God’s Way that we shall bear the likeness of Jesus Christ. Yes, it is true and good –“As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless!” Ps.18:30
May His Spirit touch your heart this week! Pastor Jim