Many years ago there was a software program that included a great “Fly Swat” game. The mouse controlled the fly swat, and like most video games there were several levels, each progressively harder. The first level was slow moving gnats, followed by house flies, then mosquitos, bees, wasps, hornets, and finally one huge Goliath-like killer beetle who would taunt his prey before he killed them (unless they killed him first). The music and graphics were excellent and players could spend hours hoping to clear the levels and defeat the killer beetle (or so I’ve heard).
In some ways the Christian life bears some parallels to the Fly Swat game, especially in that the early stages are deceptively simple. When we first become a believer (and/or begin to take our walk with the Lord seriously) the doctrine of salvation tells us that we are born again, our sins are forgiven, God has become our Heavenly Father, our name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and the angels in Heaven rejoice. Salvation is an event which begins the process of sanctification.
The process of sanctification begins at the moment of salvation and continues until the Lord calls us home. Sanctification is the process of growing and changing, of becoming more Christlike as we “put off” the old, sinful nature, learn to think and act Biblically, and “put on” the new man who after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Having been born-again we are spiritual infants and life is easy because our Heavenly Father is doing everything for us. Scripture often uses this metaphor:
“Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” 1 Peter 2;2 NIV
“I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed you are still not ready.” 1 Corinthians 3:2 NIV
As we do begin to grow spiritually, moving from crawling to our first faltering steps the Lord allows us to experience some pushback from the world, the flesh, and the devil. As we stumble He is always there to catch us and we begin to think there may be more to this than we first thought. We start to walk by faith and not by sight, and realize that we can do all things only through Christ who strengthens us.
As our spiritual growth continues we move from walking to running. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17), and the Holy Spirit most often speaks through His Word. The more of God’s Word we learn the clearer our spiritual sight becomes and the more clearly we can hear His voice. The work of the Holy Spirit is to “convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement.” (John 16:8). Notice the word “sin” is singular, not plural. Religions speak of sins with the goal of changing behavior. Christianity speaks of our sin nature which is a heart issue and something very different. We may change our behavior but only God can change our heart. The more we grow and change, the more we learn to think and act Biblically, the more we begin to realize the true gravity of the situation:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it.” (Jeremiah 17:9)
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6)
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
That is the paradigm shift of the Christian life. It’s not what we can do for Him, but rather what He can do through us! Early in the Christian life it seems there is nothing to it. Later it may be harder than we thought but we can still manage with His help. Maturity begins when we realize that living the Christian life is totally impossible apart from Him. That moment when we understand our part is to abide in Him, His part is to produce the fruit of the Spirit through us is the breakthrough.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22
As Pastor Johnny Hunt says, “in and of ourselves we can produce artificial fruit which may look amazingly real, but only the Holy Spirit can produce genuine fruit.”
King David is described as a “man after God’s own heart” and wrote most of the 150 Psalms in which he journaled his close relationship with God. It’s interesting to note that when he did challenge the Philistine giant Goliath his confidence was not in himself but in his God. His words were: “You come to me with a sword, and a spear, and a shield but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel who you have defied. This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand.” 1 Samuel 17:45-46. It was never what David could do for God, but what God could do through David.
The Christian life is about our relationship with Him, and like any relationship it must be intentionally developed and nurtured. Here are some steps to help grow and change in the Christian life:
- Be sure of your salvation. https://stepstopeace.org
- Invest daily, meaningful time in God’s Word and prayer. Diet and exercise are every bit as essential to a healthy spiritual life as they are to a healthy physical life. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” His Word is to the spiritual life what food is to the body.
- Be actively involved in a Bible-believing and teaching church and small group. Second only to our one-on-one personal relationship with the Lord Jesus is our relationship to other believers. He said “it is by your love that men will know that you are My disciples,” and that we are “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but should encourage one another.” The church is the body of Christ and it is there that we grow closer to Him as our Heavenly Father and He brings us closer to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ in a family relationship.
This life is about that life. The Christian life, which can only begin on this side, will continue throughout eternity in Heaven. What are the investments that we can only make now that we will be eternally glad we made then?