Tag: spiritual maturity

Critical Growth

~ Chuck Griffin ~ 1 Comment

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NLT)

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

By Chuck Griffin

At this point in Ephesians, Paul has been talking about salvation given to us through Jesus Christ and God’s follow-up to salvation, the provision of the Holy Spirit to believers.

This text takes me back to when I first began to explore “holiness,” that old Methodist concept that to some sounds really demanding, and maybe even highfalutin. It took me a while to figure out how simple and down-to-earth holiness really is.

An old Nazarene preacher helped. I never met him in person, but someone gave me a copy of an obscure book he wrote, and in it I read that holiness simply is a matter of growing in our ability to love as Jesus loves.

It didn’t take long to connect that thought to Paul’s “love is” verses in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

“Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!”

Love is very positive, of course, and we also see love is more than a fuzzy feeling. Love colors our response to all kinds of worldly events, and most importantly, love keeps us rooted in truth. We do have to search for truth, but Christians should know truth is found in what God consistently reveals to each generation regarding the divine plan for humanity, laid out for us in the Holy Bible.

Traditional Methodists find themselves living with a kind of spiritual tension, offering God’s love to all people but never shrinking from our duty to declare what God has first said via Scripture, regardless of how people may respond. We of course hope and pray for a very good response.

We know it actually is a very unloving act to ignore our basic mission. We declare salvation has come; we declare a pressing need to conform to God’s will in every aspect of our lives, trusting the Holy Spirit to lead and empower us.

Let’s keep moving toward completeness.

Lord, may the work of the Spirit be something we allow to happen within us every day, and may our love be evidence of your presence. Amen.

Snakes, Stones and the Answer Is No

~ Chuck Griffin ~ Leave a comment 
By Chuck Griffin
LifeTalk Editor

Matthew 7:7-11 (NLT)

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”

If we’ve ever asked God for something and not received what we wanted, we might struggle a little with Jesus’ words. But we have to ask ourselves—do we always know what’s good for us?

Something cannot be good if it is not aligned with God’s will. It would be ridiculous for us to expect God to fulfill requests that go against his larger plan. If we accept that as true, suddenly the “no” we receive in prayer is as valuable as any “yes.” The “no” gives us a clearer understanding of God’s will, which I think is one of the major purposes of prayer.

If God were to grant a bad request, I would be very concerned for the recipient. It would mean God has finally tired of prayers raised in a “My will be done” manner, rather than the recommended “Thy will be done.” It can never be a good thing for God to say, “Fine. Your will be done.”

Hey, that might be the basis for how hell works.

The bread/stone-fish/snake example makes clear how Jesus’ “keep on asking” recommendation is rooted in the concept of goodness. The children in the example are asking correctly, and the parents, flawed as they are, respond correctly.

It is possible for children to ask incorrectly, of course. Had the children asked for a stone or a snake to eat, good parents would have automatically said no, even if the children were certain they needed stones or snakes for dinner. (If this is getting too far afield from reality, or simply unappetizing, think about jawbreakers and gummy worms, instead.) And once the children grew up a little, they likely would be grateful their parents were so wise.

I think these verses become easier to understand as we age. It helps to be able to look back on our lives, remember what we wanted decades ago, and then give thanks to God we did not receive all the stones and snakes we thought were attractive.

Lord, as we pray, attune us more closely to your desire for our lives. And thanks for watching over us even when we’re a little stupid. Amen.