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As believers, we should all be seeking to reach a godly maturity. We know this is what our Lord desires of us. Yet how exactly to reach this place of maturity is something that few will agree upon. Others are just not willing to do the work necessary to reach a place of maturity in their walks with the Lord. Yet I think, if we strive towards maturity, the results will be greatly beneficial to us. At the very least, we will build our relationship with God and get to know our Lord better, and what could be better than that?
In our last study, I expressed my opinion that the steps to maturity are not so much things we do as attitudes we have. Thus, I began to set forth the attitudes I believe we need to have in our hearts in order to reach a place of maturity. The first attitude was that, in a believer’s walk with God, it is not a religion. It is a relationship. Now, let us go on to the second attitude I believe is crucial for spiritual maturity.
II. It’s not about you. It’s about God.
Sometimes, I think we view our relationship with God as if He was like an employee at Wal-Mart. Read the rest of this entry »
The struggle to reach spiritual maturity is not easy for us as believers. We strive to reach the place in our walks with God where He would have us to be, and yet many factors seem to get in the way of what we know our potential for Him could be. I believe that many of the roadblocks that we face on our way to coming to a place of maturity have not so much to do with our circumstances, or even with our outward behavior, but rather with our attitudes.
Think, for a moment, of a child commanded by his parents to take out the trash. Now, all that is really necessary physically for him to be able to do this is the proper strength and coordination to accomplish the task. Yet just because he is able to do this, does not mean that he is mature about it. If he must be told a hundred times to do it, and if he grumbles and complains the whole time, then he can hardly be said to be mature when it comes to taking out the trash. Thus, maturity has not so much to do with his age or ability, but much more to do with his attitude.
Thus, I believe that it is attitude more than anything that signals a true maturity when it comes to our relationships with the Lord. Read the rest of this entry »
In our last two messages on the issue of alcohol and the believer today, we examined the various words used for alcohol in both the Old and New Testaments, what they meant, and what the Bible’s attitude towards alcohol seems to be. We saw that we cannot make any difference between the words used to speak positively of alcohol and the words used to warn against the use of alcohol to cause drunkenness. The same words that are spoken of in a positive light are used in a negative light of not getting drunk. Yet I suggested last time that our study of the issue would be incomplete if we did not pause to consider why God said such things as in Ecclesiastes 9:7 and Amos 9:14. Read the rest of this entry »
In our previous article, we were examining the issue of the use of alcohol and the believer, and were seeking to determine what exactly the Bible has to say on this topic. We examined all the various Hebrew words for alcoholic beverages in the Old Testament, what they mean, and what the Lord has to say about them. Now, we will move on and do the same thing with the New Testament words regarding alcohol. Read the rest of this entry »
The issue of the believer and alcohol is, by no means, an easy one. The old fundamentalist idea that “believers shouldn’t drink” is becoming increasingly unpopular, as alcohol as a means of entertainment, pleasure, and socialization becomes more and more the accepted norm in our society. More and more believers are tending to point out that the use of alcohol is never forbidden in the Bible, and that their drinking it is not a sin, especially if they do not get drunk. Some even suggest that those who condemn the use of alcohol are “weak” in faith, using passages such as Romans 14:1-2 as evidence. Yet on the other end of the spectrum, we have those who have become believers after experiencing the devastating effects of alcohol abuse in their lives or in the lives of their families. Such people have had families destroyed, lives torn apart, or even been committed to prison because of the use and abuse of alcohol. These, upon finding freedom in Christ, also enjoy freedom from the alcoholic abuse that had so enslaved them before. To them, the use of alcohol is an abomination, and they cling wholeheartedly to the fundamentalist doctrine of not drinking alcohol. What, then, are we to say in the light of such divergent opinions? What can we discover from the Bible about the use of alcohol? What is it that God really taught, and how can we apply it to our own use of or refusal to use alcohol today? Read the rest of this entry »
There is an increasingly large movement in our country today that might best be described as non-judgmentalism. This movement is defined by a way of thinking that states that we have no right to judge the actions of anyone else, no matter how immoral or sinful we believe them to be. Those who ascribe to non-judgmentalism feel very open, forgiving, and loving by holding this position. Those who do see fit to condemn the actions of others and believe that they should be called into account for their actions are said to be unloving, harsh, and judgmental. Read the rest of this entry »
