Hang on to progress

The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that everything tends toward deterioration. My desk proves it. No matter how often I tidy it usually looks like an explosion in a paper factory. If I’m not vigilant, the devotional verse for today says that my spiritual life could go the same way.

It is a simple verse. Paul has been writing about the importance of pressing on toward the goal, of striving to mature and be like Christ. He knows that even though God produces the growth, this is not automatic, so after saying I need to press on and be mature, he writes,

Only let us live up to what we have already attained. (Philippians 3:16)

As a child of God, I need spiritual food, drink, exercise and cooperation with my Father. While I am saved by grace and grow in grace, spiritual disciplines put me in places where God can work. These disciplines include reading and studying the Bible, prayer, celebration, confession and about a dozen more.

I would not lose my relationship with God if I didn’t do these things. Actually, they seem more of an evidence that I have that relationship. Why else would I do them? Yet even as I write that question, I know of religious people who practice spiritual disciplines but have no personal relationship with God. For them, it is duty and their way of trying to please Him. However, they stay the same. Spiritual discipline without the life of Christ is stagnant ritual.

I know this, because I did it. Before I was saved, I practiced two of those rituals. I read my Bible and said a prayer every day for sixteen years. I didn’t understand what I was reading, and my prayer was rote. I kept a diary and noted RMB/SMP in the corner for each day. Nothing happened to me. I was the same, maybe even declining in moral behavior and certainly not alive in my spirit.

After Christ came into my life that changed. His very presence changed me, and He keeps on changing me. Things that upset me last week are not a problem this week. Many sinful attitudes are gone. I’ve a sense of being free from stuff that used to hold me hostage.

At the same time, I know I have not arrived. I’m told to press on, and as this verse says, I’m also told to avoid going backwards. Coasting or resting on a spiritual plateau soon leads to reversals. Without spiritual discipline, I’d stop growing and start sliding. Without Christ, there would be no spiritual disciplines.

Yesterday I experienced a strange incident in a store. The clerk became angry with me because I let the lady behind me (who had one item) go ahead of me (because I was exchanging something). He said jumping the queue made the customers at the front of the line angry. I said I was the only one ahead of her and it was fine with me to let her go first. He then proceeded to deal with my exchange in slow-motion, muttering and fussing to the point that I almost laughed out loud. At the same time, I was very aware that I needed to trust God with this and that patience is a choice.

I’ve thought about this and how easy it would be to natter on and on about the whole thing rather than remember that God gave me patience during that incident. I don’t need to lose what He gave me by talking or thinking about it with annoyance. I need to live up to what I have attained, just as this verse says. God tells me to keep at it. Keep being patient. Keep following Jesus. Don’t lose the progress I’ve made. While it is even better to press on to greater obedience, I must at least remain in this place of trust and patience.