Quote from Principles of Spiritual Growth

Occasionally I will scan the titles of books in my personal library.  I am always amused when I find a book I do not recognize.  Somehow I manage to acquire books without my knowledge due to family, friends, or the gently used book fairy!  Anyway, yesterday I picked up Principles of Spiritual Growth by Miles J. Stanford.  I'm in the middle of a couple of massive puritan tomes, so the narrow spine in addition to the title was inviting.  Though I've read a few chapters, I don't feel like I've read too much of Stanford because he quotes other people very often.  But I like Stanford very much because he knows an excellent quote when he sees one!

The first three chapters are titled, "Faith," "Time," and "Acceptance."  These three things alone are critical aspects to spiritual growth in Christ.  In my own life I must say these are three primary areas of struggle because they are fundamentally contrary to our natural man:  we want to trust ourselves, we want things according to our schedule, and we kick against the goads of grace.  How important that our faith is in Christ according to the Word of God!  Even in Bible teaching churches people willfully remain under the Law, reject the grace of God, and only trust when the odds based on appearance are in their favor.  What sorrows Christians pierce themselves through when they will not take God at His Word!

God's grace is so hard for us to grasp because it is not of an earthly, tangible nature.  Grace is a divine attribute only found in God.  We resist receiving because we cannot believe.  We cannot believe because we see our unworthiness, yet God's grace gives love in spite of our wretched condition!  An ounce of grace liberates a man to love and serve God more than a ton of Law.  Stanford quotes William R. Newell on pages 20-21 concerning grace:

"There being no cause in the creature why Grace should be shown, the creature must be brought off from trying to give cause to God for his Grace...He has been accepted in Christ, who is his standing!  He is not 'on probation.'  As to his life past, it does not exist before God: he died at the cross, and Christ is his Life.  Grace, once bestowed, is not withdrawn:  for God knew all the human exigencies beforehand:  His action was independent of them, not dependent upon them...

The Proper attitude of Man Under Grace:  to believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret....To refuse to make 'resolutions' and 'vows'; for that is to trust in the flesh.  To expect to be blessed, through realized more and more lack of worth...To rely on God's chastening [child training] hand as a mark of his kindness....

Things Which Gracious Souls Discover:  to 'hope to be better' [hence acceptable] is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.  To be disappointed with yourself, is to have believed in yourself.  To be discouraged is unbelief, -as to God's purpose and plan of blessing for you.  To be proud, is to be blind!  For we have no standing before God, in ourselves.  The lack of Divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, and not from failure of devotion....To preach devotion first, and blessing second, is to reverse God's order, and preach law, not grace.  The Law made man's blessing depend on devotion; Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing: our devotion may follow, but does not always do so, -in proper measure."

Let us examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith.  Let us also consider if we are growing in grace as we follow our Saviour Jesus Christ!  Thank God He gives us exactly what we need! 

Waiting on Myself

Studies have been done which estimate how long a person on average will spend during their lives eating, waiting at red lights, or watching television.  I wonder how much time we actually spend waiting on other people.  I remember going to Souplantation (a buffet-style restaurant in the U.S.) and waiting for a woman who meticulously harvested every piece of chicken out of the chicken noodle soup into her two bowls.  I didn't even want that particular soup, but this chicken-vulture hunkered down and spread her wings over the clam chowder as well!  As the minutes passed and people in line politely waited, I gazed awestruck at the oblivious woman who dipped, dipped, dipped, and dipped again.

No one is a stranger to waiting on others.  If we ring someone we have to wait for them to answer.  When we send an important e-mail we have to wait for someone to send us a response.  Our glass may have been emptied of soda ten minutes ago, but we must flag down the waiter or waitress to request a refill.  Delegating tasks can enable a person to multiply his effectiveness, but it can have the opposite effect if those working do not share his level of urgency.  Some common reactions to waiting on people can be impatience, annoyance, disillusionment, and frustration, especially if we believe we have waited long enough!  There's no rule posted over the chicken noodle soup, but I'm thinking more than three minutes borders the ridiculous.

Lately God has been showing me something wonderful in the Body of Christ.  Many times when we feel or think we are waiting for others, we are waiting for ourselves.  Some people have this concept that they must wait for their pastor to "get it" before they will be a force for God.  It is the idea which suggests my spiritual well-being and progress is not only tied to but in a sense dictated by the actions of other people.  We make excuses and justify our own disobedience.  We are inactive, yes, but that is because of the lack of support of our wives.  Our church is not reaching the world, true, but that is because we are waiting for revival.  It is God's fault, not ours.  If only someone else would do what we should do, then we would take the next step.  Dear friends, we have all shuffled around in this dark pit awhile.  It has been in our spiritual DNA from the moment Adam and Eve fell into sin.

If I am waiting on a person, I wait on myself.  As a Christian, I am supposed to actively follow my LORD Jesus Christ as led by the Holy Spirit.  I am to wait in earnest expectancy, be swift to listen, slow to speak, and purpose to obey.  But there is no human being in the world I need wait on when it comes to my spiritual growth and development.  My career must be second to your Saviour.  Jesus calls pastors while they study at a prestigious university or as they serve their ninth year of imprisonment for their faith.  Jesus calls evangelists while they work as computer programmers and beauticians.  God calls all men, women, and children to hear His Word, believe, and live their lives for His glory.  Don't wait for your pastor, man of faith.  Honor God with your time.  Don't wait for your husband, dear believing wife.  You follow Jesus today!  Don't wait for your mom to act like a Christian, young man:  you be a real Christian today.  While you delay you only wait on yourself!  Jesus leads the way, and He seeks people to follow NOW!

Compliments to my Chief

I enjoy cooking and baking almost as much as eating!  One thing I especially like is an American-style breakfast.  Toast and tea is a fine starter once in a while, but I prefer food from scratch cooked to perfection:  eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, pancakes, omelets, french toast, muffins, fried eggs, zucchini bread, and sour-cream coffee cake (not all at one time!).  My idea of fruit for breakfast usually ends up as jam spread on an English muffin or pumpkin or apple pie!  Whereas most people have cereal for breakfast every day but once a week, I try to have cereal about once a week.  Breakfast is so good I don't even mind having it for dinner - how about a egg-bacon wrap or some huevos rancheros?  Count me in!

Today I did something a little different and made some buttermilk biscuits from scratch.  The last couple times I wanted to make them I didn't because there is no cooking shortening in Australia, and I don't own a pastry blender.  I decided to make them anyway, substituting butter for the shortening minus 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  I also had to blend the dough "crisscrossing two knives," a royal pain with firm butter!  But in a short while the buttermilk biscuits were hot from the oven with flaky golden brown edges and were arranged on a platter in the center of the table.  It was a success, and now buttermilk biscuits will be fair game when the ingredients are on hand.

Laura was very liberal with her praise, and her obvious eating enjoyment clearly revealed her appreciation.  My boys, however, seemed much more interested in the honey on their spoons than the biscuits!  So after the meal I asked Zed what he thought of the biscuits.  After a lengthy pause he said, "They were fine."  "That's it?" I said to him.  "Just fine?"  When good food is prepared and cooked, it feels good for the effort and labour to be appreciated - even if the results aren't perfect.  When the food turns out great and both our mouths and stomachs reap the benefits, thanks and compliments are in order.  It seems that my culinary talents, limited though they are, sometimes seem wasted on my sons.  I want my sons to enjoy their food, but I also I want them to fully appreciate the labour that went into the process.  It would have been much easier to give them oatmeal, cereal with milk, or toast.  But this morning's breakfast was a labour of love.  I wanted them to eat something good and a make it a little special too.

In mulling this over, I'm certain God knows exactly how I feel.  I'm not offended in the slightest, but I want my kids to be excited over a delicious meal.  How many times has God cooked up a great meal from His word that I yawned and dozed through?  The power and wise insights were completely lost on me.  I didn't even appreciate all the labour that went into the writing, transcribing, translating, editing, printing, and the anointing with the Holy Spirit of the author of God's Word.  God has so much to say through the Bible and we hit  the snooze button.  We know it is rude not to thank someone for feeding us, even if the food isn't our favorite:  have we remembered to thank God for the food from His Word He lavished upon us this morning?  Let us give Him our compliments, though much of the truth might be lost on us.  Just like when Christ fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, there will always be holy leftovers of the Living Bread who came down from heaven.  There's always more than we can handle.

Thank God for the sustenance He provides for our souls!  Let us feed on Him today and be resolved to thank Him for His labour of love towards us:  while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  He rose from the dead and has sent the Holy Spirit to teach us eternal wisdom which supplies us spiritual nutrition.  What He sets before you eat, whatever He says do it, and thank Him too!

Learn to Live Forever!

Last night my sons and I watched a program that showed the experiences of men from Tanna who visited the United States.  These indigenous people went from a tropical environment and loincloths in a remote village to living with people in a cabin in Montana!  As these men cooked for the first time, toured a cattle ranch, went to a rodeo, and experienced snow, they more resembled children than men in their excitement.  I was fascinated by their observations and insights which were both simple and profound.

As they stood under the big Montana sky, they spoke to each other about how big America was.  One of them remarked to the best of my recollection:  "All these people have to do is learn to live forever.  How sad it is to have all this land and fat wallets and die like everyone else."  I was staggered by this simple wisdom.  Here is a man who had never likely enrolled in what western civilization would call an "accredited school" but showed wisdom which exceeds many post graduates.  He recognized the same thing that King Solomon spoke of in Ecclesiastes:  the good and bad die alike.  Heaping up riches on this earth is vanity and futile, for all your hard work will benefit someone else in the end.

This man perhaps had never heard of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who promises eternal life to all who repent and trust in Him.  The secret to living forever is not found in a fountain, balm, or hidden remote area:  it is found only in Jesus.  While those in the world focus on heaping up perishable riches which make wings and fly away with the rate of exchange, Jesus tells us to lay up treasure in heaven.  Matthew 6:19-20 reads,  "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal."  We cannot take our earthly treasure where we are going, and only those who treasure Jesus Christ will receive of His heavenly reward.

Sometimes a fresh perspective in minutes can give us insights which for many years have remained hidden from our eyes.  This island native in the documentary described in his own dialect the futility of materialism.  His words are a rebuke to all people who live for today with no thought of the future.  Are we laying up treasures in heaven?  1 John 2:17 states, "And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."  That is good news indeed:  Christ died for sinners, and all who rely upon Jesus will be saved!  Repent and trust in Christ today!