The pursuit of spiritual maturity should be the goal of all Christians. We must be transformed as we learn to walk in Christ (Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 4:1).
As preachers and teachers, we must help our fellow Christians grow spiritually by guiding them through God's Word and teaching them to learn on their own.
Spiritual growth is only possible through Christ. His grace, mercy and longsuffering empower us to endure and the Word guides us through the darkness (John 8:12).
Immersing ourselves in the power of Scripture, we learn the dangerous methods of Satan and how to overcome them (2 Timothy 2:15; 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:10-17). Christianity is about learning to make sound decisions as we apply God's Word in the small and large moments of life.
The Holy Spirit lays out in the Bible the perpetual conflict between the spiritual and the fleshly (1 Corinthians 2:13-16). For example, the spiritual will have us love our enemies while the fleshly has us pursuing vengeance (Matthew 5:44).
Jesus consistently exposed this dichotomy. While Jesus taught spiritual lessons, the crowds heard only the fleshly and misunderstood what he was saying (John 6:26-67). The apostles were not immune to this weakness, either (Acts 1:6).
- Will we do God's will or our own?
- Will we follow the flesh or walk in the spirit?
- Will we pursue the spiritual or the pleasurable?
- Will we invest in the spiritual or the fleshly world?
Scripture is filled with teachings on how to discern between the spiritual and the fleshly (John 13; Romans 7:11-25; 14:1-8; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, et al). We learn to place a greater emphasis on our soul and less on our earthly possessions (Matthew 6:19-21).
"When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, 'Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me'" (Mark 8:34, NKJV).
The Gospel of John is saturated with this teaching, and we should do a diligent study of the text because our soul is far more important than anything else we have (Matthew 16:26).
by Richard Mansel, managing editor - http://forthright.net/2013/03/26/spiritual-maturity/
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