When we first start out, hungry and zealous for Him, it is often imagined that extensive progress has been made when as yet we have barely begun. As our Lord takes us along through the years, it slowly dawns on us that there are vast, almost infinite, areas of development through which He must still lead us.
Many of these development areas are just plain desert—no spiritual activity, no service, little or no fellowship with Him or with others. What prayer there is has to be forced and is sometimes dropped altogether for months at a time. Bible study finally grinds to a halt; everything seems to add up to nothing. It is during these necessary times that the believer often feels that God has ceased to carry out His part and that there is little or no use in seeking to continue on. And yet…
THUS, we commence the final chapter of our study with the above, the opening words to chapter 18 in our review of Principles of Spiritual Growth, titled Continuance.
I’M in a moment of pause here, wondering and thinking what comments –if any- I should make. Many thoughts and images are playing on my mind, mental pictures of folk that I can recall from so many years of encounter. I see faces of those who have faithfully persevered and pressed on through the peaks and valleys of their Christian walk; those who have fallen away; and still others disheartened and discouraged, somewhat clueless, just ambling along aimlessly. My mental picture sees those who know the joy of Lord to be their strength regardless of circumstances (Neh. 8:10), and way too many who could have known quiet and confidence to be their strength, but they would not (Isa. 30:15) for lack of the spiritual disciplines to draw near and know their God in the infinite possibilities offered to them.
WE come to the end of this section in our study in The Complete Green Letters. Before we rehearse what we have learned and decide where to go from here, there is one more importance lesson to consider, the need for Continuance. So, for now, I will pick-up our consideration below from where I ended it above as we begin this 18th and final chapter in Principles of Spiritual Growth.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa 30:15, Jas. 1:2
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Chapter 18—Continuance …continued from introduction above
And yet there is a hunger deep within that will not allow him to quit. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his” (II Tim. 2:19).
Are we to love and trust and respond to Him only when He seems to be “blessing” us? What sort of love is that? Self-love? Our Father strips everything away from time to time in order to give us the opportunity of loving and trusting and responding to Him just because He is our Father. He knows what the cross is going to mean in our lives. He knows the death-march that lies ahead of us in order that there may be resurrection life. He knows the barren, bleeding hearts beyond to whom He must minister through us—hence He is going to bring us to the place where we don’t care what happens, He is all that matters!
“Sonship is something more than being born again. To be continued…
