Ever feel stuck?
I’m not talking about being stuck in an elevator, or stuck in a job you don’t like, but I’m talking about feeling spiritually stuck. As in: “After all these years walking with Christ, I can’t believe that I still have to struggle with [insert your least favorite temptation here].”
I mean, I’m not sure that anyone ever told us this explicitly, but I think that many of us lived under the impression that – at some point in our spiritual maturity – our proclivity to sin would simply lose its grip. But, as life has played out thus far, we’re still battling our old nature. In fact, it may even seem to you that your battle against your sin is raging more fiercely than ever.
As a lover of classic literature, I’m somewhat familiar with the genre known as bildungsroman. Think of it as a coming-of-age story, and I don’t have to tell you how powerful and compelling such stories can be. There’s “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë (1847), “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain (1884), “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1908), “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger (1951), and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee (1960). The stories involve the ups and downs and ins and outs of one’s formative years.
I’ll add another novel for your consideration: “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens (1861). You likely remember Pip, the English orphan who takes on a whole new life when he receives a fortune from a benefactor he never suspects. Now amidst London’s high society, Pip must learn to navigate the strangeness of his new identity. They’re hard shoes to step into, and he makes a mess of much of it.
In our spiritual journey, you and I are Pip. I realize we’re not living in the Industrial Revolution, but we are – in Pip-like fashion – regularly surprised by how much we don’t yet know or understand about ourselves. This side of glory, for every follower of Jesus Christ, such struggles are timeless. No matter our age or how long we’ve served the Lord, we never grow out of our need to grow up. And, as long as you and I are growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ, the heat of the battle will feel at times more intense than we can possibly endure.
Through the ups and downs and ins and outs of your life, God is writing a marvelous story! On any given day, the rough patches of our sanctification can be a tough pill to swallow, but the reality of our emerging Christlikeness is the unbreakable promise of God to each one of us (Romans 8:26-30). I understand that lingering “Temptation X” – from my opening paragraph – can feel awfully discouraging, but I’m writing today to encourage you. Because here’s the truth: anything in our lives that boosts our desperate dependence on Jesus is a very good thing.
In a style that’s quite charming, Dickens tries to capture the deepest longings and loves of the human heart. Pip learns the hard way how to become a gentleman, and this requires facing some hard truths about himself. The same goes for us. We’re still growing up. We’re still growing into maturity. As we keep moving toward Christlikeness, the trials of our journey become the journey’s treasures. Whatever your age, these are your formative years.
As we are led by the Holy Spirit, and as we are being filled with the Holy Spirit, you and I are learning to think rightly and wisely. When we first came to saving faith in Christ, we couldn’t possibly have understood the depth of the lostness from which we’d been rescued. But now we’re coming into knowledge of the truth. We’re learning to dismantle our wrong assumptions. We’re learning to destroy strongholds of twisted thinking that have been allowed to operate for years. Even if we’ve been learning these lessons for what feels like a lifetime, the best part is that we’re still learning. Even if the progress seems slow by our estimation, God’s Word is still working powerfully in us. That’s the nature of what the Bible does.
God’s Word still works on God’s people. As long as we’re still here, His truth reaches deep into our souls and shines a piercing searchlight into the darkest crevices of our selfishness. It exposes our spiritual blindness. It challenges, and eventually topples, our stubborn idols. Its strength and efficacy are superior to that of any other word or influence. Charles Spurgeon described it like this: “The Word of God is like a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.”
Friends, there’s no such thing as having “arrived” at perfect spiritual maturity, this side of heaven. We’re always learning to think soundly … continually striving to practice what we preach … constantly praying for the ability to discern wisely in a hyper-confusing age. Like Paul, we’re pressing on toward the upward call and prize of Jesus Christ. We haven’t graduated from the school of pressing on. And, even when the time comes for our Lord to take us home, we’ll still be trusting in our gracious God.
Be encouraged! Despite some temporary setbacks along the way, our spiritual progress will prevail. If the end result were up to us, we’d have plenty of reason for skepticism, but the One who will carry us across the finish line is faithful and true. And He is able.
In Christ, anchored and secure, you and I are coming of age. We’ve embarked on the most thrilling of adventures, and the adventure is well underway. We’re learning, and relearning, to put on Christ. Though we stumble on occasion, and feel like we’ve failed a grade or two, we’re still stepping into our new identity – IN CHRIST – and embracing the grace that we’ve received for all it’s worth. Risen from the dead, our living Savior is working in us with nothing less than His own resurrection power – preparing us for a glorious eternity with Him!
That’s who you really are. You’re not the sum total of your defeats. You’re an eternal winner! Though the world doesn’t understand this, our temptations don’t define us. Even when we’re battered and bruised by our battles, the war against sin and death has been waged and won on a Cross: “It is finished!” With complete confidence, you and I can trust to the end that the reigning King of the universe is using even our hardest chapters to make us more and more like Jesus.
That’s a story worth savoring and celebrating. Christ has won! For us, this should be a day of great expectations.
Pastor Charles
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