A Dozen Spiritual Lessons to Be Learned

Here are some things I am starting to get a handle on as a believer:

It is hoped that over a period of time the Christian will have learned various lessons, realised certain biblical truths, and had times of inspiration and understanding. In other words, hopefully the Christian is involved in a continuous process of spiritual growth and development, and is not standing still, spiritually speaking.

What we learn and experience of course must be in close alignment with what is taught in the Word of God. So airy-fairy, emotional and quite subjective experiences need to be carefully considered – and discarded if need be. But the sincere Christian is always hoping to grow and become more Christlike.

That involves testing our hearts and examining our souls. I was recently rereading the Psalms, and one morning I read these words from Psalm 26:2:

“Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.”

That verse, along with many other passages, would be about the need for a continuous spiritual check-up. We need to keep assessing our spiritual condition and keep ensuring that we are where God wants us to be. That includes checking our attitudes, our desires, our thoughts, our relationships, our feelings, and our actions.

I could have called this piece, “Bill’s Facts of Life” since of course they come from my own Christian life and experience. But hopefully they may be of some help to others, and many Christians may be able to relate to what I say here. Perhaps they might gain some spiritual benefit from these ruminations.

Nonetheless, in one sense I am a bit hesitant in sharing something like this. It may give the impression that I have somehow arrived in the spiritual life. Nothing could be further from the truth. The longer I am a Christian, the more un-Christlike I feel. So in this regard I might be the last person to write a piece along these lines.

If anything, I am reminding myself of these spiritual facts as much as hoping others might benefit. In the same way I would be loathe to write an article on ‘Successful Parenting Tips’ as I feel I have failed far too much as a parent. If anything, I could write a piece entitled, ‘Mistakes I have Made as a Parent Which You Need to Avoid’!

So I present this as just one spiritual beggar on a journey, often regretting all the wrong turns I have taken, and all the spiritual lessons I have NOT yet learned. Nonetheless, here are a dozen spiritual facts of life, at least as seen through my own Christian journey. And if it is somewhat well-received, perhaps I will pen some more such pieces in the days ahead. After all, I am still learning and growing, so more things can be added to a list like this.

Here then are my twelve lessons:

One. The longer you are a believer, the more you should realise that it has been the grace of God that has kept you going. You increasingly understand that it is not your great faithfulness or commitment that has brought you along thus far, but his mercy, patience and grace. He must get the credit and the glory for what he is doing in your life. We must always bear this vital truth in mind.

Two. In this life we never stop growing as Christians. Indeed, the longer you are a believer, the more you become aware that you have such a long way to go. No one ever fully arrives spiritually speaking in this world. The journey goes on and on. I have been a Christian for 54 years now, and if I were to live another 54 years (unlikely) I would still be growing and developing.

Three. God does not reward the casual inquirer but the diligent seeker. While his amazing grace does explain all our progress in the Christian life, the enormous number of imperatives (commands) in the New Testament alone make it clear that we must take some responsibility for our spiritual growth. We must do what we are commanded to do, and we must stop doing what we are commanded not to do. As to our growth in holiness, D. A. Carson put it this way: “People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.”

Four. Spiritual disciplines ARE important. The obvious key habits such as a committed prayer life, the daily reading of Scripture, fellowship with other Christians, and so on, are essential. No athlete or soldier will be of any use without plenty of discipline, dedication, and hard work. It is the same in the Christian life. Lazy and flabby believers will get nowhere fast.

Five. Speaking of fellowship, there is no such thing as a lone wolf Christian. We are created to live and grow with others. The emphasis on being members of the body of Christ is often found in the New Testament. We need one another, and the areas that we lack in or are weak on can be made up for by other Christians. All the gifts and all the callings of God are meant to be used for the whole of the Christian community, and for the benefit of one another.

Six. As it has often been said, when it comes to sin, we need to be hard on ourselves but easy on others. We need to be ruthless in seeking to weed out our own sin and selfishness, but cut some slack and show some grace to others as they do similar things. We generally tend to reverse this process, being easy on ourselves while being hard on others. As C. S. Lewis once put it: “I find the best plan is to take the Calvinist view of my own virtues and other people’s vices: and the other view of my own vices and other people’s virtues.”

Seven. Here is something you can count on: whenever you attempt to do anything for God, you will have critics and those attacking you. Scripture and church history both attest to the reality of this. It is one of the things you can utterly bank on. Just as Jesus and the disciples always attracted critics, so too those who seek to do something for Christ and the kingdom. And it is not just those in the world that I am speaking of here: perhaps most of your critics and opponents, sadly, will be fellow believers.

Eight. One of the greatest needs we have is for humility. When a strong biblical exhortation, rebuke, or word of correction is given, usually those who need it the most will ignore it, dismiss it, or take no heed of it. But those who may need it the least will nonetheless be the most convicted, the most challenged, and the most open to what God is saying! That is far too common, but it tells us something: the humble, godly, teachable Christian will always tend be challenged by calls to go deeper with the Lord, while proud, fleshly and unteachable Christians will always tend to want nothing to do with such calls.

Nine. There is a fine line between listening to your critics and asking God if there is truth in their criticisms, and allowing the enemy to speak lies to you through them. Some of what they say may be what God wants you to hear and apply to your life. But some of what they say may come straight from the flesh or the devil, and you need to reject those unhelpful and mischievous criticisms. Discernment is very much needed here. Like a good fish dinner, we need to learn how to enjoy the meat while throwing out the bones.

Ten. The Christian life involves both head and heart. We all know of very learned and theologically correct believers whose hearts seem cold, and they have little love and grace. And then we know of some who are nice, sweet believers who seem to care a lot for others, but they have little or no biblical and theological awareness, resulting in them easily going astray or even getting into cults. We are to love the Lord with our minds and our hearts. We should have an informed and intelligent faith, along with a warm and loving heart.

Eleven. Speaking of which, so often the Christian life is about avoiding unbiblical extremes. We see Christians going off on unhelpful and unscriptural tangents all the time. They might insist that we just pray and leave the results up to God, when we should both pray and work for the Kingdom. They might say we should only evangelise and not worry about good works and social involvement. But we are told to do both: to be salt and light as well as go into all the world with the good news of the gospel. Steer clear of  these unhelpful false dichotomies and extremes.

Twelve. A believer who simply takes things in all the time but never gives out is not going to advance in the Christian life. Sure, perhaps the brand-new convert will need to take in more than they give out, but soon enough it should be a bit of each. We want to be spiritually fed and nourished, but we also want to share that with others. We want to learn and grow as disciples, but we need to pass this on to others. And we never should stop having a heart for the lost, but always share the gospel when and where we can.

So, do the above twelve points cover the entire gamut of the Christian life? Of course not. Many more things could be added to a list such as this. You would likely have many items that you would want to include. Feel free to send some in in your comments. These are just some of the matters that came to mind as I started writing this piece.

And they simply indicate where I am currently at in my own spiritual journey. As mentioned, I have such a long way to go. At the very least, please pray for me. After over a half century of being a Christian, I should be so much further along in my walk with God than I currently am. Again, all I can do is just stand in awe of God’s patience with me and his never-ending grace.

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