Spiritual Maturity: Look Like Love
Too often I see people proclaiming that they are Christians and that there is a God, but when non-believers ask them to explain their beliefs they can't seem to say anything that makes an impact; they can't say what they believe or why they believe it. In fact, too many times the response instead only solidifies for non-believers why they don't believe there is a God.
Most non-believers aren't looking to the Bible for exposure to God's truth, they're looking at the Christians who have supposedly declared that they are dedicating their lives to God's Way. Many of these Christians, however, aren't reading the Bible either and aren't living out Jesus' teachings.
Jefferson Bethke in his book, Jesus > Religion, calls Christianity our "default setting" in the United States. Many people call themselves Christians but that's about where the religious portion of their life ends. They may believe there is a God, they may believe Jesus was His son whom He sent to earth, and they may even go to church. But where is the follow through?
True Christianity is a lifestyle. The Bible reveals the foundations of a Godly lifestyle. Through the Bible, we can understand what God wants the church to bring to this earth.
The Bible is a massive book full of confusing passages from centuries before we even existed. How does God expect us to understand it, let alone relate to it? Going to church is one way and is probably the most obvious. But it is not just about showing up, it is going with the desire and intention of learning more about God and what He is telling us in the Bible. Our pastors are there to help us understand the context of it and how it can be applied to our lives today. Outside of our regular weekend services we need to be digging into the Bible and engaging with other Christ Followers ourselves. Doing both on a regular basis are vital to spiritual growth. Understanding the Bible is a life-long process, taking place daily and not just on the weekends in church, needing prayer and meditation with God. There is always something more we can learn and God will help us. (It's funny that we even try to limit God to something that we can fully understand; He is too great for our comprehension.) Application can take place right away though. Once we learn something new we should immediately be trying to put it into practice. We won't always get it right, we'll make mistakes over and over again, but that's when we see the beauty of God's grace. He is patient, always forgives, and gives us another chance.
Application is not easy. It requires us to surrender our lives for His will and not our own. He will call us to places where we are uncomfortable. He will call us to get our hands dirty. He will call us to go against what society tells us is important. Sometimes, He'll want us to do something we simply don't want to do! Following His plan for our lives instead of our own will require sacrifice, but when we do this we bring the church alive. The church isn't just a building, it's a body of people who are active and pursuing the Kingdom right here on earth.
Doing what God wants us to do isn't always easy or convenient, but it is worth it. I have never regretted doing something that I have felt God had called me to do. These are the times when God has used me for Him, and when I have felt like my life has had true purpose.
The experiences that we have with God in our spiritual journeys are our best evidence for our faith to those who are non-believers wondering why we even have it. We shouldn't use them to try to prove anything, but to share with others the love and grace of God that can be experienced by anyone. Many of my friends that are atheists want concrete, hard, scientific evidence of God. If we all had something that we could physically hold in our hands, the concept of faith would be defeated.
It is like Thomas who would not believe that Jesus had resurrected from the grave until he saw the nail marks in the hands of Jesus and touched his side where the spear had pierced him. Jesus showed himself to Thomas a week later and let him feel the nail marks and touch his side, then Thomas believed. We don't have this luxury that Thomas had and Jesus knows that. He replied to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:24-30).
It probably won't make sense to those who find comfort in science and fact. But that is something about God that I find incredible and beautiful.
There's always room for improvement and growth and we should be seeking to become more spiritually mature with every passing day. When we look to His Word, listen for Him, and follow His plan we become more like the person He has made us to be and will reveal pieces of Him to those around us.
I have been struggling lately with reading the Bible. After the approximately 300 textbook pages I have to read for my five classes every two days, (on top of my other assignments, studying for exams, and other activities) the last thing I feel like doing sometimes is reading the Bible. I have found that the devotions in the YouVersion Bible app for my iPhone help me to read God's Word more consistently. Notifications can be sent to you at a certain time every day to remind you and you can read it anywhere, leaving little excuse for me to not do my daily reading! You don't have to read chapters at a time. Sometimes a section of a few paragraphs are most effective. Read this section multiple times and process it. It's amazing how God can speak to you while you read His Word. Sometimes He advises me and sometimes He convicts me! Either way, He reminds me that His plan trumps mine and I have a long ways to go in my spiritual journey.
But my hope for my life is that eventually people will see the face of Jesus reflected in me.
This is where the title of this blog, Look Like Love, comes from. The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8), and in our journey to being more mature in our faith we will become more like the image of God, therefore we will look more like love.
"If I believe there's a Savior, is the proof in me? Is He alive and breathing? Is He what they'll remember? Is He what they see when they look at me? Do I look like love?"
Most non-believers aren't looking to the Bible for exposure to God's truth, they're looking at the Christians who have supposedly declared that they are dedicating their lives to God's Way. Many of these Christians, however, aren't reading the Bible either and aren't living out Jesus' teachings.
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
- Brennan Manning
Jefferson Bethke in his book, Jesus > Religion, calls Christianity our "default setting" in the United States. Many people call themselves Christians but that's about where the religious portion of their life ends. They may believe there is a God, they may believe Jesus was His son whom He sent to earth, and they may even go to church. But where is the follow through?
True Christianity is a lifestyle. The Bible reveals the foundations of a Godly lifestyle. Through the Bible, we can understand what God wants the church to bring to this earth.
“You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
The Bible is a massive book full of confusing passages from centuries before we even existed. How does God expect us to understand it, let alone relate to it? Going to church is one way and is probably the most obvious. But it is not just about showing up, it is going with the desire and intention of learning more about God and what He is telling us in the Bible. Our pastors are there to help us understand the context of it and how it can be applied to our lives today. Outside of our regular weekend services we need to be digging into the Bible and engaging with other Christ Followers ourselves. Doing both on a regular basis are vital to spiritual growth. Understanding the Bible is a life-long process, taking place daily and not just on the weekends in church, needing prayer and meditation with God. There is always something more we can learn and God will help us. (It's funny that we even try to limit God to something that we can fully understand; He is too great for our comprehension.) Application can take place right away though. Once we learn something new we should immediately be trying to put it into practice. We won't always get it right, we'll make mistakes over and over again, but that's when we see the beauty of God's grace. He is patient, always forgives, and gives us another chance.
Application is not easy. It requires us to surrender our lives for His will and not our own. He will call us to places where we are uncomfortable. He will call us to get our hands dirty. He will call us to go against what society tells us is important. Sometimes, He'll want us to do something we simply don't want to do! Following His plan for our lives instead of our own will require sacrifice, but when we do this we bring the church alive. The church isn't just a building, it's a body of people who are active and pursuing the Kingdom right here on earth.
Doing what God wants us to do isn't always easy or convenient, but it is worth it. I have never regretted doing something that I have felt God had called me to do. These are the times when God has used me for Him, and when I have felt like my life has had true purpose.
The experiences that we have with God in our spiritual journeys are our best evidence for our faith to those who are non-believers wondering why we even have it. We shouldn't use them to try to prove anything, but to share with others the love and grace of God that can be experienced by anyone. Many of my friends that are atheists want concrete, hard, scientific evidence of God. If we all had something that we could physically hold in our hands, the concept of faith would be defeated.
It is like Thomas who would not believe that Jesus had resurrected from the grave until he saw the nail marks in the hands of Jesus and touched his side where the spear had pierced him. Jesus showed himself to Thomas a week later and let him feel the nail marks and touch his side, then Thomas believed. We don't have this luxury that Thomas had and Jesus knows that. He replied to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:24-30).
"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."
- Hebrew 11:1
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."
- 1 Corinthians 1:25
"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."
- 1 Corinthians 1:27-29
There's always room for improvement and growth and we should be seeking to become more spiritually mature with every passing day. When we look to His Word, listen for Him, and follow His plan we become more like the person He has made us to be and will reveal pieces of Him to those around us.
I have been struggling lately with reading the Bible. After the approximately 300 textbook pages I have to read for my five classes every two days, (on top of my other assignments, studying for exams, and other activities) the last thing I feel like doing sometimes is reading the Bible. I have found that the devotions in the YouVersion Bible app for my iPhone help me to read God's Word more consistently. Notifications can be sent to you at a certain time every day to remind you and you can read it anywhere, leaving little excuse for me to not do my daily reading! You don't have to read chapters at a time. Sometimes a section of a few paragraphs are most effective. Read this section multiple times and process it. It's amazing how God can speak to you while you read His Word. Sometimes He advises me and sometimes He convicts me! Either way, He reminds me that His plan trumps mine and I have a long ways to go in my spiritual journey.
But my hope for my life is that eventually people will see the face of Jesus reflected in me.
This is where the title of this blog, Look Like Love, comes from. The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8), and in our journey to being more mature in our faith we will become more like the image of God, therefore we will look more like love.
"If I believe there's a Savior, is the proof in me? Is He alive and breathing? Is He what they'll remember? Is He what they see when they look at me? Do I look like love?"
Comments
Post a Comment