A life with Christ

When you learn a new skill whether it be acquiring a language, learning to cook or learning to play a musical instrument, the material you use to teach you the skill, whether it is a lesson plan, a recipe or a song book containing various songs, you will probably encounter the same words at the beginning of each material. The words being; ‘beginner’; ‘intermediate’ or; ‘advanced’.

We tackle each lesson based on our skill level. Once we have mastered that particular thing we will move on to something more challenging to us. What is important is that we do not attempt things that are above our current level of skill. Whilst a beginner guitarist may be very good at playing a song with four chords, he would be lost and confused if he tried to follow a fast finger picking song or a complicated classical guitar strumming pattern. Whilst a beginner cook may cook a fine fried egg, their attempt at baking a crème brulee would result in disaster.  It is important to master what we know before we move on to the next level. We must make solid foundations to build upon.

Our walk with Christ is exactly the same. As we begin our journey with Him we are beginners. We will be fed spiritual milk (1 Corinthains 3:2), taught basic doctrine and be reassured and encouraged of our salvation. We will learn about our enmity from God, our futile attempts to make ourselves right with God through our own actions, our forgiveness and justification and our reconciliation through Christ.

Once we have mastered ‘beginner’ we should not stay idle or become stale, and whilst we should constantly return to the foundations of our faith, learning the Gospel of Christ from many different angles and Biblical illustrations which will teach us about the person of Christ and God, we should move on from the Spiritual milk that was necessary for us to grow with God. We should begin to digest solid foods – learning about our sanctification, the casting off of our old man, the holiness of God, the true power of the Kingdom of God compared to the natural power and might that is held so highly by men, the characteristics of a true Christian and the fruits of the Spirit, the difference between the first Adam and the Last Adam and how we have been grafted in to the lineage of Christ, adopted out of sin, learning to trust the Lord and overcome our feelings of guilt for the sins we have committed.

Once we have become sons of God, justified by Christ through our faith in God’s grace, attained the knowledge of the gospel and obtained spiritual understanding of doctrine, then we may move on to a more advanced and deeper stage in our relationship with God. Beyond the knowledge we have obtained and beyond the change in our man that is visible to all; the fact that we possess the fruits of the Spirit; that we are joyful, peaceable, long-suffering, faithful, kind and gentle; we can begin to apply the knowledge we have been blessed with by God to our lives, becoming God-filled and more satisfied in our relationship with Him as we go. We will continue a process already started in us to remove things from our life that hinder us from God, not just external forces but also internal ones, such as pride. We will begin to disarm ourselves before God. We will fight hard to destroy the natural self, removing pride through the help of the Holy Spirit and replacing it with humbleness. We will give up our own lives and our own agenda and give ourselves over completely to God, allowing ourselves to become overrun by the Holy Spirit, that was promised to us in John 14, trusting in God.

We will begin to love Him more deeply, not only based on what He has done for us but also based on who He is and on how worthy He is, based on the simple fact that He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords. No longer will our love be tainted by ‘self’, it will be based purely on who He is.

As Christians we must also be careful as to how we present the gospel of Christ to others. It is pointless to evangelise to a man who needs beginner material, with doctrine that is only understandable to someone who has been blessed by God with Spiritual understanding. As the bible says, do not throw pearls amongst pigs (Matthew 7:6). In the same way, do not throw pearls to men who are not yet ready to digest them. As Songs of Solomon says, ‘do not awaken love before it is time’ (Songs of Solomon 8:4).

Some Christians will never make it past the ‘beginner’ stage. Some will never experience the satisfaction of the love of God like those who reach the advanced stage will. All who accept Christ are saved and all should be confident of this fact. However, whether we become completely saturated in God’s love or not is up to us. Where we get to in our journey is up to us because God has blessed us with free will. But, take encouragement from the fact that God’s love never runs dry. There is always more to get. It is impossible to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:15-22). The only limit to God in our lives is our selves.

-T.E