Living or Dying
Are you living or dying? I’m not talking about your physical life. All of us are either living life as Jesus wanted or we are dying, there is no in between, or neutral. This seems like a harsh statement but in reality, it is either one or the other.
Growth Cycles
Mark 4:28
‘All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk,
then the head, then the full kernel in the head. ‘
One thing I have learned in my own Spiritual walk, God is always causing things to grow, in particular, He wants me to grow. Sometimes it was easy and sometimes it was hard learning the lessons the Lord was teaching me. However, growth is a process built into the universe. Which means anything living will go through growth cycles. People are no different. Nothing with the Lord stops growing. I have also come to understand that growth is a great word. I can come through a failure, and if I learn from my mistake, I will grow and eventually get it right. It is how we measure things in this life.
In the plant world we know when something is growing and when something is not, it eventually becomes apparent. As parents we can tell when our children are growing. From birth they are obviously getting bigger physically, they are learning to put more and more words together thus they seem to be getting more intelligent. As they get bigger they go from crawling to walking and then running. Being born again is no different. The actual term is birthed from above. We are growing into a mature man or woman in Christ. God wants us to grow spiritually. Growth is going to happen, it’s a fact. All of us have witnessed something growing. It can be seen in our physical world all around us.
A few years back I bought an apple tree and planted it in my backyard. It was a single skinny 12 to 20 inch stick, with no apples. In fact apples didn’t grow until two or three years later and then only a couple of apples appeared. Now 8 years later it is 20 feet tall and in the spring covered with apples. Just observing the world around us we know growth is a way of life. Even scientists say the universe itself is still expanding. Everything created by God is meant to grow. Again, He built this into everything He created. It’s a sign which reveals something is alive. Everything was designed to grow. We need to understand that growth is good. The process of growth is great. It is always happening, and to understand how it works and learn how to work with it, is all part of living life.
Part of the growth process is knowing how and when something has matured. We know a person or plant will physically grow older but this doesn’t mean they will mature properly.
(Maturity; is the state of being fully developed,
it’s the level of something or someone functioning right, which is attained through proper growth)
We can say someone or something matured when it appears to be developed. When it is not functioning at a certain level of development which is perceived as normal for its age, we say it is immature. We can see an apple growing on the tree, in the spring, it’s small and green and we say it is not yet ripe. We know this by what an apple looks like when ripe or matured. For an apple to mature it needs time through the summer sun and rain to get bigger and turn red. As the apple grows, we evaluate its ripeness based on certain perimeters we know as proper maturity. If we know there has been the proper amount of time for growth, but it has not achieved a certain level which should be seen as normal, then we say it is immature or worse it is sick. This means we see the age, meaning the time period of growth, and know it should be functioning at a certain level, yet we do not see this. It is no different in the Spiritual realm. We are either continuing to mature or we are still immature. We are either growing or dying.
Of course as we grow we gain knowledge of what works and what does not work. Life is a constant state of growth as we learn and mature. Navigating life can be tricky at times but as we gain the right knowledge we can grow properly. If we disregard this knowledge, we will stay immature which is another way of saying we didn’t grow. We need to learn, not just what works in life, but also how to continually apply these truths of growth and keep maturing. Life will have its ups and downs which is all a part of growth. However, knowing what and how to apply certain principles of growth through all phases of life keeps us moving forward.
I once met an older missionary in Mexico. He had been a missionary for decades. He started many years back as a Wycliffe bible translator. He had the most amazing stories, some funny, and some stories of hardships suffered. I was taking him down out of the mountains back to the airport in the city, which took a few hours by truck. I asked him this question, “Knowing all which you have done and accomplished, and all the things that failed and just didn’t work, if you could do it over what would you change?” He didn’t hesitate to think at all, and said, “nothing”. I was taken back a bit and looked at him in disbelief repeating “nothing”. I had already started a list of definite things I would do differently. He then said even the things I made mistakes on, or failures on my part in walking with the Lord and Him picking me up, helping me, correcting me, and times He ministered His love and mercy instead of judgment. He was teaching me who He was, which caused me to be stronger not just physically and Spiritually but stronger in my relationship with Him. He helped me to grow and learn to be a better man, how could I take those times away to do it differently. After he explained, I felt I needed to check my attitude. I still pressed him asking him if there would be something he would do differently. He finally said, I would study the Word of God twice as much for it has all the answers to life. This was coming from a man who knew Hebrew, Greek, Spanish, Aztec, had 2 Phds, and three master degrees, was an expert in Pauline Epistles and on the history of the early church. To do Bible translation he would have to take scriptures from Hebrew and Greek to Aztec. I now felt like I was in grade school.
This goes along with an account I read a few years back of a biosphere experiment. A biosphere is an enclosed climate controlled environment, with no outside influence. Many species of plants, animals and humans live in this self contained atmosphere. One phenomena they reported was the branches on the trees would droop. Eventually it was realized by having no storms or temperature changes, such as the cold of winter or heat of summer, the trees, although healthy, did not have any strength. The branches just hung down.
With a Christian there is no difference. A person gets saved and many think this is all that is required. Sometimes they may grow a little and stop. Sometimes they start to grow and come against some form of hardship and stop. To think nothing negative will happen in your walk is not a healthy mentality. Instead a healthier way to understand is, whatever happens in life the Lord will be there, standing with you to help, I can stand being positive and faith filled in Him. Hardships and difficulties are all part of living. Learning to trust and rely on the Lord through these times is all part of spiritual growth. Salvation is just the beginning, and to think there is no need to grow in our salvation is wrong, or immature thinking. Salvation is the start which puts a person on the right path of true growth.
The person of Jesus, His Spirit, is now positioned within a person, helping them grow the right way. He is constantly going to push them toward not just growing but mature growth. The goal of this growth is to make them more and more like Jesus everyday. He is bringing them into the mature person of Christ. He will mold and shape this individual, which if you examine these words, means it is going to require pressure. To mold or shape anything requires a picture, model, or mold and then a pressing to shape the material being worked with till it looks like the mold or model. Jesus is the model and His Spirit is doing the shaping to be just like Him. If we are to be like Jesus, then you have to realize the threats, persecutions, and all the negativity towards Him was part of His doing the Father’s will. Now put the trial, cross and death into this picture. All of these were also just as much a part. We tend to think only of victories He had, the miracles and endless love and mercy He showed toward mankind. Yet it’s the whole picture which made Him Lord. We cannot remove any part of what He went through. The same is true with ourselves. We must trust the whole process of our journey and believe we are in His hands. His Spirit knows perfectly what to do with our life to get us where He wants us to be for Him. His Spirit works with our Spirit to gain the wisdom to know what works and what does not work. This is not just so we can navigate life properly, but also to show those around us who He is.
Looking at my personal growth over the years as a christian has been an amazing journey, and a journey I have realized never ends till I see him as He is (1 John). Yet I have met many people who have just quit, they didn’t see the need to keep growing. Growth slowly became not as important as it once was. They found a form of autopilot. They are sleepwalking christians. There have been times in my own life it was hard, and I even wondered if the area of growth was worth it. I was thinking of finding an autopilot for myself. I mean, I was okay, comfortable, so did I really need to press forward? However, inside I knew there was more, all the while knowing on the outside I could just coast. I had to keep in mind, God wasn’t finished with me.
Hopefully over the years we have seen how some things change and some things do not. If change is required, it will just about always be ourselves which will have to change. For change to happen in my heart I know some things around me will not change but will still require me to change. I know some things will change around me and again require me to change. Both will need my thinking to change. Change becomes the key element for growth. I once heard, as a young christian, this statement, “constant change is here to stay”. So the ability to keep growing is fully embracing change in our life. After all, He is the God who doesn’t change, so it’s obvious to keep moving forward we will be the ones to change, and this according to Him working in our lives. This means to get to the mature man of Christ will require us to change many times in our lives here on earth. If we reach a place where we are not willing to change, this is usually the place where our growth stops as well. Truth is if we are not willing to change then we are choosing. Change can be something externally, or it can be something internally. Whichever it is, whether internally or externally without the necessary changes we will remain the same. This is where me, you, everyone must decide, do we want to change or ignore this and fool ourselves and think we are moving on. The sad reality is, if ignored, without making the necessary changes, life will not change, it will still be the same, and we are not really living but just existing.
A couple of years back I planted 5 blueberry plants along my fence line. They seemed to do good for the first season, however by about the third season, I noticed they seemed to be struggling. They were not getting any bigger, at first I didn’t think much about it. I just let them go. I did not want to take the time to do anything with them. Toward the end of this third season they were slowly dying. I knew I had to do something. So one afternoon I dug them up and transplanted them to a better section of my yard and within a week they were already looking healthier and by 3 weeks they were already growing again. I shared this illustration because this is just like us, if we ignore certain elements in Spiritual growth we just slowly die. I don’t think anyone sets out to spiritually die, they just let it slowly and gradually happen.
It seems ironic that by not doing anything, how easy it is to permanently change your life for the worst, yet it will require work to change things for the best. Simply put, we just do not want to take the time and energy to change things, it’s uncomfortable. Of course this is a choice we make, and if we choose not to, we become those branches that droop. Our outside appearance looks good but we didn’t let the right pressure produce what was needed for change. The greater truth is, by changing what needs to change we increase and grow in Lord. We are gaining more of His life in us. It is how He becomes closer to us and how we become closer to His heart with ours. He is continually sorting out what holds us back in being close.
We must always keep in our hearts and minds, the Lord has more for us. It was the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. It’s our inheritance and the Lord is continually trying to give this to us. It is Him giving us life in its greatest form. He is always wanting to draw us closer and closer. He wants us to know Him deeply which means we need to keep growing. He wants you to be as close as you possibly can to Him. This isn’t just His heart for us but should be our heart for Him as well. Do we truly desire more of Him, and if we do, then this desire will keep us moving forward on a path of growth. When I meet people who seem to be content, it’s as if they are saying this is all I want I don’t need any more, when they pass from this life to the next what does this look like to the Lord. I wonder if it’s like saying I don’t need all of your love, I didn’t need the things you wanted for me. Truth is everybody wants all of He has for them, all of His love for them, which He freely gives, but again do they want to change to love Him with all they can give back. This is the whole path of growth.
In the navigation of life we need to understand there are certain truths and principles which if applied in the heart keeps a person on a path of growth, if not applied will hinder growth. It’s important to know what will change given the right circumstances and what will never change. These truths and principles have nothing to do with age, what ethnicity, or the country and culture where you live. They will work with everyone anywhere in the world and they work the exact same way. Remember, He is always working with you to give you the best life you possibly can have here and not just in the next life. He always has more for you. This is what God is trying to do with us at all times. He is the greatest Father and just like any good parent He will teach His children right from wrong with the goal of growing them to a mature person. He wants to give them the best, because He is a great Heavenly Father.
