Do you remember the “Rubik’s Cube” that crazy cube made up if rows of colored squares that would rotate in every direction? The idea was to line up the little squares in a way that all six sides contained only one color. If you had one you probably remember how badly you wanted to solve it.
That “Rubik’s Cube” is just one thing in a long list of things I started with great enthusiasm, that went by the wayside as j lost interest in them, things that I started and lost interest in.
I’m sure if you think back through you life it wont take long to compile a list of things you started with great enthusiasm and lost interest in too.
We lose interest as we begin to see ourselves as unable either to physically or mentally complete the project. We are unable to understand the basic concepts that would allow us to finish whatever it is that we have started. We decide that even while others may be able to don’t, we can perform at that level. We can’t make it work.
There was no shame in that “Rubik’s Cube,” hidden in the back of the closet and forgotten about. It probably saved hours of frustration.
The problem comes when we do the same thing happens with our spiritual life or even our beliefs. I remember being on fire for God, it started out that I was full of enthusiasm and excitement, and I wanted to shout it out from the rooftops how good God is.
Many people lose this enthusiasm and excitement over time, they lose their focus. They decide it doesn’t work for them. The joy they experienced with salvation stagnates with neglect into the traditions and soon they become disillusioned with the entire experience. Some fall away and never return and others remain in the church long after they gave given up on experiencing a meaningful relationship with God. They hang on to the habit of going to church but no longer expect to experience growth.
Let’s look at Revelation 2:4-5 you will find a better to a stagnate church in Ephesus,
“But I have this against you, that you left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and so the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of it’s place, unless you repent.”
If you have lost your first love, I urge you to repent. If you have traded the Gospel of Jesus for a ceremony called church. Or set aside the teachings of Jesus for the traditions of men. It today’s world it is easy to backslide. In our busyness, it’s easy to put God off for another time but another time never comes.
For a person to remain an active believer we have to do more than merely attend a weekly worship service. If we are to remain in Christ and not fall away we must forever be active in Christ.
If we are to continue in His service do not become disillusioned we have to understand few stages of growth and maturity through Christ. There are three stages of being a mature believer. That maturity is not a destination to be reached but a continual journey that should be experienced and enjoyed.
Stage 1.
Surrender. Surrendering in the Bible is different from what we it means in the world. The world identifies surrender as humiliation, But the Bible identifies it is the willingness to surrender your life, your desires and your will to Jesus.
Today there are many who have professed to God but have never surrendered their lives to Him. They have fallen for the lie of an easy salvation that requires one to only stand up and express a belief to obtain eternal life. I do not believe that one can repeat a canned prayer off a 3×5 card and have a surrendered life to Jesus. And salvation cannot be earned by good works, it comes by grace through faith, it is the gift of God not works, so that no one can boast.
We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 19:2)
There are many.p in this country on church rolls, listed as members who will be nothing more than fodder for the fires of hell unless they surrender their lives to Jesus. If you think you can have the assurance of eternal life because you stood up and made a public profession of Jesus and then put your Bible away on a shelf like an unsolved puzzle to gather dust, then you are mistaken, without surrendering to God, you are a candidate for hell.
Matthew 21:28-31 tells of an account of 2 sons in the vineyard,
“”But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, some, go, work in my vineyard. He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise, And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,” but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’
Those who place their faith in public profession that produces no work are no better off than the son who said he would but then did not go.
A stagnant believer that produces no fruit is no surrendered to Christ. We cannot always be a good judge of the fruit of others but we should a least check our own branches for fruit.
If we are truly surrendered to God there will be growth because if you are surrendered then you will be in submission and if you are in submission there we will growth.
We must come to the knowledge of our own sin, we must come to the knowledge of salvation that we have been offered by the blood of Jesus which brings us to a state of love and appreciation for a God who would sacrifice His Son for us. Our surrender is an acknowledgment of our love for Gid, it is a step that we confront the first and greatest commandment,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” – Matthew 22:37.
Stage 2
Submission. This is the process of learning and applying God’s rules for our lives as we learn to let others see Jesus living in us and it is during this process that we discover in our attempt to serve God that we serve those around us. It is in our state of submission that we, imitating Jesus, learn the second greatest command,
“Love your neighbor as yourself” – Matthew 12:31
If we are to be like Jesus then we must live as He lived and He tells us clearly in Matthew 20:28,
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
And as we seek to serve Him we are told in Matthew 25:40 what we must do as Jesus proclaims,
“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Doing for others is serving Jesus. It is a never-ending process that we build on the rest of our lives as we aspire more and more to be like Him.
Submission: learning to love our neighbors will lead us to the third stage.
Stage 3
Sharing. By submission to His will for your life the Holy Spirit will build such a great love within you for others that you will not be able to sit on the sidelines while a world full of lost people, each one made in the image of God, goes to hell for lack of the gospel message. As we grow and mature into the third stage of maturity we find ourselves compelled by compassion to reach the lost. We must take the literal and personal command from God as individuals,
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” -Matthew28:19-20
I am still growing in this process. I will continue to mature as a true believer in Christ until Jesus returns.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged as we face the challenges of this life, but we cannot afford to lay our belief in Christ aside like some incomplete puzzle that we have lost interest in. Our salvation is at stake as well as all those who will ultimately be affected if you stay on track in our spiritual growth and maturity.
It doesn’t matter where you are in the process but it does matter whether or not you are still involved in the process.
From Pity to Praise 