| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Christian community” Our Bible verse for today: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Are you living the same year over and over again?” This morning I want to continue our thinking from yesterday regarding how we are to work out our salvation together – spurring one another on in our spiritual growth. There are many passages in both the Old and New Testaments that refer to the importance of spiritual growth. A quick search turned up over one hundred. 2 Peter 3:18 (above) is just one of them. But why? Why does God find it necessary to keep reminding us to pay attention to our spiritual growth and to be intentional about engaging in the practices of our faith that help to facilitate spiritual growth? It’s because we forget; and we get lazy; and we lose our passion for God. If we’re not intentional about it we will become stale and spiritually stagnant; we will then stay stuck right where we are rather than moving forward in our growth. I recently came across a statement written by a man who was reflecting on his own spiritual growth. He had been a Christian for thirty-three years at that point and this is what he wondered, “Have I been growing for thirty-three years with Jesus, or have I sometimes lived the same year over and over again, covering the same ground year after year?” It’s a good question. Are you moving forward spiritually, or are you stuck in the same place you were last year, five years ago, ten years ago? It’s not uncommon to encounter professing Christians who have spent years and even decades just going through the motions of faith in a superficial and relatively meaningless way, and consequently they are pretty much in the same place now, spiritually, that they were many years ago. They’ve never grown. This is the situation the writer of the letter to the Hebrews was addressing when he admonished his readers in Hebrews 5:12: “Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.” Returning again to yesterday’s devotional – in a good Christian community we spur one another on to spiritual growth. We encourage each other; we inspire and motivate each other; maybe we sometimes even poke and prod each other; but we try to make sure that none of us are just treading water and staying in the same place. This is an important element in Christian community and so we’ll come back to it again tomorrow. In the meantime, let me challenge you to prayerfully consider if you are growing and moving forward, or if you’re stuck, just living the same year over and over again. God bless, Pastor Jim (Join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church every Sunday at 10:00. Join us in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant of if you are a shut-in, join us online at http://www.YouTube.com/oakhillbaptistcrossville) |
| Copyright © 2023 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you requested to be included in the Daily Devotional email reader group. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571 |
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Oak Hill Baptist Church 