Behind the growing business is hours of hard work, tough choices and focused thinking. Before the the awesome ripe tomatoes, there’s a lot of digging, weeding and waiting. Grown kids come after diapers, teething, tears and sleep deprivation—and that’s just at the beginning. It gets more and more complicated. The invititation to spiritual growth is a positive one. At the same time, its an invitation to a struggle. It’s a journey that will challenge you right down to the core and beyond.

To be saved, or to become a Christ-follower, is to be given a whole new life. It’s a new nature, created and renewed in the likeness of Jesus. The change that comes and the reality of being known and loved by the God of the universe is breathtaking. The freedom of being forgiven, and a new-found power to overcome temptation is amazing.

But after a while, you begin to recognize that the old is still present. The same habits, tempatations and conflicts remain; and sometimes you cave in. It can be very discouraging, as if nothing really happened in the first place. It’s not uncommon to begin to see yourself as more sinful and broken after coming to Christ than before. And then, there are those wonderful people who led you to this new life in Christ. You begin to discover that they’re pretty broken as well.    In Galatians 5:17, our friend, the apostle Paul explains it like this:

For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

For a lot of believers, the awareness of this reality seems like an ending. In the process of the life of a Christ-follower, it is really a beginning. The discovery of our own spiritual bankruptcy and sinfulness is something we could never see before being awakened by God’s grace. Many press the pause button here, because it’s threatening to see the extent of the brokenness. But it’s this very thing that leads us to the kind of deep surrender that is the threshold of a spiritual maturity. Paul writes of this experience, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).”

Yours for the Journey,
Pastor Tom