Spiritual Growth Keys: Obedience
“Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments…” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (Deut 5:29, John 14:23)
What is and why spiritual growth? Did you know that both Christians and non-Christians yearn for and work hard toward this? Spiritual growth is the process of awakening to your true nature, purpose, and potential; when you undergo spiritual growth you experience an expansion in awareness and insight, also known as ‘higher consuousness’. Hinduism and other practices aim at ‘Oneness’ – the experience of feeling a connection with everything in existence on every level, or the feeling of fullness, vastness, and completion, beyond our limited personalities (egos). But turn to the Bible and here: Jesus said, ‘Abide in me, and I in you’, and Paul said ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.’ And along these lines, I consider spiritual growth to be growing into oneness with Jesus Christ – perfectly in step with God’s perfect will.
This season provokes serious believers to consider matters of spiritual growth more intentionally. God created us in His own image and as such with a continual longing for knowing and becoming like Him more and more – that is the journey of spiritual growth. Unfortunately, many people use this longing in other directions and seek growth to greatness and satisfaction others ways that will not ultimately deliver. What are the instructions of your Creator? What kind of heart does God desire you to have and maintain, in order to enjoy peaceful fellowship with Him and his creation? The two verses picked for the opening of this homily point us to the matter of obedience. And since you can only obey instructions you have heard and understood, we are thus directed to seek God and hear His commandments well.
Obedience becomes an important key to spiritual growth. In his words, Jesus makes obedience the proof of our true love for Him, and the key that opens our hearts for the Father and the Son to come in and make a home in this believer’s heart – the blissful oneness that is the highest level of spiritual growth. Do you desire to keep on this journey? Many signs and benefits are at hand: the peace of embracing challenges as opportunities – knowing you are not a victim but a student of life; the joy of giving generously and experiencing freedom from the seduction of the material world, recognizing that the deep happiness you seek is not in things but in God; the joy of sharing the gospel and seeing lives changed, caring for both your whole life and that of others. May the Lord keep you attentive that you may continually walk in obedience and thus attain the spiritual growth to which we are called.
God bless you all!