Every January many Christians determine to make the next year the best year ever and decide to grow spiritually! They often begin with great zeal, but then peter out after a few weeks or months as they get frustrated with their lack of progress. With that thought in mind I want to share some practical things in my blog over the next few weeks that will help each of us grow spiritually and without frustration over the next year.
There are three important elements involved in spiritual growth. These elements are rest, proper nutrition, and exercise. A person who incorporates one of these three elements will see some progress, a person who incorporates two of the three will see more progress, but the key to seeing dramatic change is implementing all three.
Before we talk about spiritual growth, I want to share with you a truth about physical growth that will help you understand how the components of rest, nutrition, and exercise work together. There is an order of importance to all three of these physical components of health. Rest is the most important, while nutrition is second, and exercise is third. I bring this up because many people put an emphasis every January on exercise, but don’t think about their diet, and neglect rest and become frustrated by their lack of progress and/or eventually make themselves weary because they do not get proper rest.
I’m all for each of us exercising regularly. I lift weights three times a week and walk everyday, but as important as that is, do you know what is most important for my health? Rest! Think about it, where would I be physically if I don’t work out for a week? Not as good as I am now, but I’d be ok. Where would I be if I didn’t sleep for an entire week? I’d be in bad shape and possibly on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
This physical principal for health is also true spiritually. We need to exercise spiritually. Examples of this are volunteering in church and going on various outreaches in the community, but if we do this apart from resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus we will burn ourselves out and could have a spiritual feverous breakdown. Spiritual rest is the most important foundational principle to grow spiritually! Look at Hebrews 4:3-4:
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”
In this passage the writer of Hebrews says that when we believe we enter rest. This doesn’t mean we don’t work, but it means we work from rest. The specific rest he is talking about is resting from trying to earn right standing with God. This means we know God loves us, is pleased with us, we are seated in heavenly places, and filled with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. This is not something we work for or earn. It is a free gift that must be received by faith. This is why verse 4 goes on to say the works were finished from the foundation of the world. The work to make us who we are in Christ is finished. We simply need to believe and receive.
Those who receive this simple message of grace do not feel the pressure to strive to earn things from God or make blessings happen. They don’t have to because they know God has already accomplished everything. The person who doesn’t receive this message by faith will wear themself out with their Bible reading, prayer, witnessing, volunteering in church, trying to live holy, and so on. While these are all great things to do, when a person does them from the motive to earn a free gift it leads to frustration and exhaustion. This is because none of us can ever do enough to earn what God has already provided.
This truth of rest is foundational and the the practices of proper spiritual nutrition and exercise are to be built on this foundation. This means some of you reading this article will need to cut some things out of your life. You should cut anything out of your life that you are doing from a motive to earn God’s favor. You should also adjust your view of good things God wants you to do like read your Bible and go to church from a perspective of I have to do this to please God to a perspective that does these does things because they will help you discover who God is and help you discover who you really are! Motive is everything! And our motive should be to work from rest and not the other way around.
I hope this article has both blessed and encouraged you. Make sure to check back in next we week when I share about the importance of proper spiritual nutrition. Praying you grow into the fulness of who you are in Christ this year!
