Tag: spiritual maturity

God’s Sovereignty: Control

Dr. J.D. WilkinsLeave a comment

Knowing the Truth of God’s Sovereignty

Here is a shortlist of questions to ponder today:

  • Does God’s ability to use someone mean God approves of everything that person does?
  • Are Spiritual gifting and spiritual maturity not the same thing?
  • Can God have a purpose for a person long before that person understands or fulfills it?

No, no, and yes.

God’s using someone specific or some specific action to accomplish His Sovereign Will is not tied in anyway to His blanket approval of all that person does. How do I know this? Because every human being that has ever lived or will ever live is flawed. We sin. We make mistakes. We make poor or bad choices. And while God allows us the freewill to make these choices, He does not negate or cancel the consequences of our choices. When He uses us in spite of ourselves to accomplish some portion of His will either for us, for someone else, or for the world, this demonstrates God’s sovereignty to control the events directly related to His will on earth.

Spiritual gifts and spiritual maturity are definitely not the same thing. Just a quick read of the letters the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians should help us see this. In reality spiritual maturity is directly related to how closely aligned our will is to God’s will. Spiritual gifts is a whole other discussion. People often think gifts of the Holy Spirit relate only to vocational choices like preaching, teaching, singing, playing musical instruments etc. However, as it relates to the correlation of spiritual gifts to spiritual maturity, I would turn your attention to Paul’s list in Galatians.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  ~Galatians 5:22-23

When the Holy Spirit of God transforms a human heart to exhibit all of these attributes of God into an individual life, then spiritual maturity is the by-product of that transformation.

And finally…

There is a little pamphlet that I used in college as a tool to have spiritual discussions with my classmates. It began with “God loves you, and has a wonderful plan for your life…”

The truth of God’s Sovereignty is that not one single person alive now, has ever lived, or will live, is on the planet by a random act of procreation. God has placed you here for a reason. We often don’t even get to know what the reason is. Sometimes we do. Most often we don’t. However, there are things we can know about the “why are we here question” though. The first is that you are here as a creation of God, to know Him and His great love for you. Exhibited in God the Son’s coming to reveal God the Father’s nature to humanity, the Son gave His own life, so that we might not just know who God is, but actually become part of His family forever.

The Control aspect of God’s Sovereignty is that He creates every human with the capacity to know Him, choose Him, love Him and serve Him. The Freewill aspect is that He doesn’t force you to choose Him or His will for you. Understanding this also brings spiritual maturity or spiritual immaturity. For those who are transformed by God the Holy Spirit when they accept Jesus the Son as their Savior, a lifetime of learning, growing, trusting and serving can take place. For those who shake their fist at God’s love and refuse His mercy, grace, and love often spend a large portion of their existence continually asking a “why” question that can only be answered, “Because He chose you, but you didn’t choose Him.”

If you want to know more about how to say yes to God’s mercy, grace, and love, I would like it if you would email me, and we can chat offline about these truths.

Rancorous Relationships

Dr. J.D. WilkinsLeave a comment

Daily Post:   Bitter

bitter

It tastes like the tart, acidic, bite of lemon.  That moment when you realize the majority of people in your life don’t understand, can’t understand, wouldn’t fathom the depth of pain that caused your actions, even if you explained it to them.  Even for the most transparent of people, there are parts of us that stay hidden, unveiled to no one. When these shadow driven areas determine our actions, there is almost always collateral damage.  The resulting attitudes of those around us become jaundiced or sullen, resentful or bitter, and they lash out in anger at us for hurting them in some way.  Collateral damage.

Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.  Rancorous relationships abound in the world today, because people hurt each other.  Everyone has a thought process that seems rational to them at times, which if shared generally even with their closest friends might seem to the friend as madness.  If the thought process takes form, and becomes activated in behavior, the friend can sometimes be the one who reacts like a terrorist ready to tear your head off.  Or worse, become the one who starts the rumors that ruins your reputation among others that don’t know you well.  Is any of this ringing anyone else’s bell out there?

Imagine being Jewish in the first century city of Antioch, and hearing the narrative about Jesus for the first time.  It’s a story so bold, and so brilliant you’re intrigued, but know that you can’t act like it, for fear of offending your friends and family.  After all, you’re like one big family as Jews, and the Roman government is enemy enough.  You don’t want your own people to turn on you.  But you become convinced of the action you must take, to surrender to the truth of Jesus as Lord and Messiah.  You know the moment that this comes out you will be like the others of “The Way” and you will become an outcast.  Your parents will disown you and treat you as though you have died.  The man you work for will fire you, and treat you as dead.  Your brothers and sisters will ignore you and pretend they don’t see you on the street.  Your life as you know it will be over, dead.

But you choose Jesus anyway.

What results?

You are dead, but alive.

Just like Jesus.

The bitter actions of the people in your life, who don’t understand you choices, do not determine whether the choice was right or wrong, good or bad, God does.  Their harsh rumors and speculations of how you’ve gone mad, cannot determine your next steps.

Be careful in interpreting my words here.  I’m not bitter.  I’m pragmatic.  I get that 90% of the people around me don’t understand my actions, or the reasons for my actions.  My attempts at transparency can only go so far.  That said, I’ve learned the hard way, that the very people who ought to be loving, forgiving, kind and accepting, are the ones who lash out bitterly in retribution, on a vengeful vendetta to judge and destroy those who they deem “unworthy” of grace (me).  The church can be very unforgiving, and unloving, for those who need grace most.

I’m really struggling here to make sense of how bitter feelings wreck a church, and destroy people’s lives within the fellowship of believers.  It really is this simple:  either we believe Paul was writing with the authority of the Holy Spirit… or we should quit calling ourselves Christians and join the country club instead of giving our money to churches.  Here’s what Paul says about it.

Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ – God forgave you.

The picture above is the epitome of this verse.

Grow up.

 

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