It is very tempting to cruise along from this side of heaven until we arrive once we have or think we have attained a certain level of spiritual maturity and in our knowledge of God and the Bible. We then depend on our general knowledge to carry us through. We no longer pursue God. We know enough – enough to keep us in our faith and enough to let our conscience prick us when we sin and to confess and get back on the right path.
The danger of such a mind-set is that after a while, our mind becomes dull. God doesn’t excite us anymore. Sermons seem to dwell of the same theme and generally, 80% of what’s preached we already know. We look for earth shattering revelation to excite or awaken our interest.
Christian literature and the Bible do not excite us. Mining for nuggets of gold from God’s Word is indefinitely suspended and we depend on preachers to provide the amazement and wonderment of God. We become handicapped in our self-discovery/exploration.
Sad.
We take our salvation for granted and put the responsibility on others for our spiritual growth. This is very unwise thinking.
The apostle Paul reminded us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12)
The Greek verb rendered “work out” means “to continually work to bring something to completion or fruition.”
There is no easy work, so Paul encouraged us to be like him in “straining” and “pressing on” toward the goal of Christlikeness (Philippians 3:13-14).
The Greek word translated “fear” in this context can equally mean “reverence” or “respect” as used in 2 Corinthians 7:15.
We do this not out of fear for God but we approach our responsibility for our own spiritual growth with a healthy reverence and awe of Him who purposed for us to renew our hearts and minds by going to the very source of our salvation — the Word of God (Romans 12:1-2).
Just cruising is a bad option for us.
God bless.
By Shi Pau Soon, Elder (YCKC Bulletin 2&3 December 2017)