Christian, have you found yourself in a spiritual “stuck place?” Same old bad habits, flimsy excuses, low-grade depression, spiritual malaise? Perhaps even sliding backward?
Aside from outright sin, the underlying cause is likely a weak or absent personal devotional life.
If you are spiritually coasting, you are NOT moving closer to God, you are moving further away from Him — there is no “neutral.”
You must put something in just to stay even, much less advance closer to God.
It’s about “spiritual friction.” It’s not automatic, you need to invest in your relationship with the Almighty, it doesn’t soak through your skin by merely going to church or hanging out with Christians.
It takes energy to overcome the friction of procrastination and laziness.
It must get personal between you and your Maker. Jesus is our mediator — Make friends with Him, as shared in 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all …”
Challenges to Spiritual Growth
Believers are in a daily pitched battle with what the Bible calls the “world,” and if you are just spiritually strolling through life, you will end up a casualty.
As I wrote in my book, My Origin, My Destiny: “In his satirical novel, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis wrote of the fictional demon ‘Screwtape,’ who is training his novice nephew ‘Wormwood’ in the fine art of tempting humans. ‘Whatever their bodies do affects their souls. It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality, our best work is done by keeping things out.’
“It’s not automatic, you need to invest in your relationship with the Almighty.”
“The most effective technique for squeezing good knowledge out of one’s mind is to consume its ‘bandwidth’ with so many distractions that nothing else can get in. Those distractions don’t need to be particularly bad (or good for that matter), just compelling enough to hold the subject’s attention. Screwtape put it this way:
“Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man’s best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them, in drumming of fingers and kicking of heels, in whistling tunes that he does not like, or in the long, dim labyrinth of reveries that have not even lust or ambition to give them a relish, but which, once chance association has started them, the creature is too weak and fuddled to shake off.”
Addressing this grave and subtle peril 2,000 years ago in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6, the Apostle Paul wrote to a fledgling group of believers embedded in the decadent and corrupt culture in the Greek metropolis of Corinth, with these words of warning:
“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way — never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.”
What is a devotional life? Fiercely prioritized time with God.
Imagine if you got married and asked your mate for all their personal photo albums and other memorabilia and then said goodbye and went off on your own.
Sure, you fully intend to study about your mate every chance you get but frequently you are too busy even for that. How long would such a marriage last?
To survive, any relationship requires constant face time, interaction, experience, building memories, etc. It is the same between you and God.
These days, believers connect with God via the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, the Bible. As Hebrews 4:11-13 explains:
“For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer.”
The Bible is not just a book of suggestions — it is quite literally, truth and life. So, give up the shrinks, pills, drugs, and endless support groups, and get out there alone with God.
How About You?
Disciples aren’t accidents, they are intentionally disciplined. As explained in 1 John 2:16-17:
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world. The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.”
So why not practice NOW for your life to come?
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