If you have been following my blog, you know that I try to stay away from church doctrine, because it is the interpretation of scripture by church leaders and it can be true to scripture, partially true or completely inconsistent with scripture depending on the ones teaching it. Instead, I rely directly on God’s written word, His Holy Spirit within me, my personal experience and the experience of others leading a Christian life. This post is no different, but it may be a little uncomfortable for those who have bought into a doctrine.
My life as a Christian began when I repented of my sins, believed in my heart and professed with my mouth that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. In that moment, my sins were covered by the shed blood of Christ and His Spirit came to dwell in my heart to give me the power to resist sin and temptation. From that moment of spiritual rebirth, my Christian life (as all life) has involved growth. When I became a son of the Living God, He did not take away my free will. I did not become a robot or zombie programed only to obey Him. So my growth has been toward God when I obey His word and Holy Spirit and away from God through my inattention or disobedience. In either case the growth has been slow; inch by inch and step by step.
My periods of disobedience remind me of the instructions about how to boil a frog. If you try to put him in boiling water he will immediately jump out, but if you put him in cool water and gradually turn up the heat, by the time he realizes the water has begun to boil it will be too late to escape. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit has increasingly warned me every time to jump back into obedience before it was too late and I did.
How is it possible to drift away from God without realizing it? I became engaged before my tour of duty on Okinawa and we made plans to marry when I returned home. I was so in love that I wrote Carol almost every day from Okinawa. Then one day I got a letter from her that read, “Your father just called me to find out if you are still alive. Please write to him.” I was shocked. I had been ignoring my loving father without even a thought. As we can be distracted away from our earthly father, we can also be distracted away from our loving Heavenly Father.
To have our growth as Christians always draw us closer to God requires our obedience and love. Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” (John 14:15) When asked about the most important commandment; “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40) To obey, we must pay attention to God’s instruction. To love, we must love God because He first loved us (John 3:16) and then share God’s love with everyone around us.
I wish the scripture said, “Nothing can separate you from the love of God; even you, Jim” but it doesn’t say that. The good news is, the closer my obedience and love draw me to God the less likely it is that I will begin to drift again. The Christian life is a marathon. We must endure to the end and through the power of the Holy Spirit we will, one step at a time.