Let the Check-Up Continue

Continuing the spiritual check-up he began yesterday, Doctor Peter today keeps scanning his chart, ticking through the essential qualities of a healthy, stable Christian:

The Christian life is a long game, stretching all the way beyond this life to the new heavens and new earth (3:14). If I am going to make it to the end, I cannot rely on short bursts of enthusiasm for the Lord. I need to develop the grace of perseverance. That means faithfully, steadily following Jesus when it is not easy, exciting, or immediately rewarding. So how is your tenacity these days? Do your spiritual commitments start well but finish poorly? When life is challenging, can you keep cheerfully trusting the Lord, or do you tend to whine about how hard and unfair it all is? Is your walk with God marked by reliability or volatility? Can other believers in your life count on you as a source of strength over time? Steadfastness is one of the least glamorous of all the Christian qualities, but few are more essential in the long run.

Peter seems to refer here to an awareness of God's presence and a desire for God's glory in every area of my life. "Godliness" means I do not partition God in one or two neat little compartments in my life. I cultivate an attitude of worship, thanksgiving, and obedience to him in whatever I do and wherever I go (cf Col 3:17, 1 Cor 10:31). An old Latin term sums up this mature spiritual attitude: coram deo. I live my whole life conscious that I am "before the face of God." Do you?

Peter is thinking here especially of the family love that Christian believers have for one another in a local church community. When I belong to a church, I can't get away with saying that "I love all Christians," in a vague, general way: I am forced to love these specific Christians in particular ways! As in any family, I must learn to live alongside the same group of generally sweet but also highly dysfunctional people, week-in and week-out, through every kind of season, with no end in sight. Given enough time, you can bet good money that these brothers and sisters will irritate, disappoint, and even sin against you. Of course, you can be counted on to return the favor to them many times over. But a sure sign of spiritual growth is the increasing ability to look past the flaws, quirks, and failings of your church... and see a family in which God has placed you. They may drive you insane some days, but will inspire you, serve you, and uphold you on many more. Believe it or not, you couldn't get along without them. Are you cultivating a genuine and abiding brotherly affection?

Am I growing in love? Peter probably did not have a rigid, step-by-step order in mind when he listed out these qualities. We should not imagine that we have to work on being virtuous before we move on to growing in knowledge, and then onto self-control, etc. But it is fitting that he ends with love, which the New Testament so often presents as the goal and summary of the Christian life. Spiritual growth is not just my own little self-improvement project--me becoming the most steadfast, knowledgable, virtuous person I can be for my own sake. No, that personal faith in Jesus I received is always pushing me outward, into the world. That's where God calls me to love and serve my neighbor in a myriad of practical ways. So are you growing in love? Are you learning to put their needs before your personal agenda? No growth is complete without it.

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church