Proverbs 20.27
“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.”
We ended last week with a question: What are the key elements of spiritual growth? What does the process look like? What role does doctrine play? What role does discipline play? How do doctrine and discipline work together to produce growth?
Somehow we have gotten the mistaken idea that the Christian faith is mostly a mental and inward thing. But no one ever says, “If you want to be a great athlete, go vault eighteen feet or run the mile under four minutes.” Nor do we say, “If you want to be great musician, play the Beethoven violin concerto.” Instead, we advise the young artist or athlete to enter into a focused life and training regimen, one involving deep associations with qualified people as well as rigorously scheduled time, diet, and activity for the mind and body.
So it is with growth in Christ. Spiritual maturity is not given; it is learned. It must be built into our lives as we learn to live and work as Jesus wants us to live and work. Christian discipline is an action of faith. It a choice we make in response to the commands of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. Christian discipline flows from our salvation, but we must always remember it is a choice we make. Christian discipline does not merit forgiveness from God, nor does it extract favors from God. Christian discipline is simply the proper response to God’s gift of salvation.
Faith in Christ does not mean that strength and insight will be automatically infused into our life in the moment of need. Christian character and spiritual power cannot be called upon in the moment of need if they have been neglected and weakened through years of compromise, indifference, and neglect.
There are no short-cuts to spiritual maturity. It is necessary to face the practical reality that we must start at the beginning, go through the middle, and be faithful to the end. If we seek to avoid the necessary struggles of Christian discipline, then we will not learn the insight and strength that only discipline can provide. No disciplined practice = no spiritual maturity. No musar, no growth. You must trust God and do the work.
Growth in the Christian life is the result of disciplined practice guided by right doctrine. Tomorrow we will explore why both are necessary.
