Posted by If we heard of someone who wanted to compete in the Olympics, and they were on a diet where they ate only once a week, we would never take them seriously. Yet we too often accept this model in our spiritual lives. Malnourished and weak, many are so immature and ill-equipped for their life in Christ that they are not even aware of their condition. What we eat spiritually is absolutely critical. The quality of our food cannot be underestimated. How often we eat, and how it’s delivered to us is just as important.
The Catholic church first modeled this misguided system that gave us the Priest/laity divide. It ignored the mandate to train believers, and it was reinforced by the industrialized version of education in the early 1900s where efficiency in spreading information trumped organic relationships. It taught us how to “not know” one another. It created knowledge transfer without intimate spiritual understanding of the student. A deep spiritual understanding of the soul was replaced by a cold academic mechanical process. Unfortunately, unapplied knowledge creates spiritual callous, not productive soil in our soul for growth.
Another version was propagated further by a celebrity preacher model. It made people think they were gaining spiritual ground by listening to a gifted speaker. Oratorial heroes became our spiritual rock stars and the proof of their success was determined by the numbers of spectators rather than transformed lives. Symptoms of this poor substitute are evidenced by lack of fruit of the spirit and emphasis on outward action. It often results in flash in the pan results of fast growing churches that flail in the long term.
Oratorial heroes became our spiritual rock stars and the proof of their success was determined by the numbers of spectators rather than transformed lives.
If our model doesn’t correct to a Biblical one of mentorship given us in the New Testament, the results won’t change either. We will be left with spectators instead of fighters, and couch potato Christians who think they’ve done God a favor by dining one day a week and starving the rest.
There are far too many areas in our lives that go unchecked by a once a week general checkup. Without regular customized input from others who know us well and give us specific help, our weak areas and blind spots act like cancer in our spiritual lives. They diminish effectiveness in all areas. Often times this pattern leads to pride, causing us to think we have all there is to have in the Christian life. Like a sprinter on crutches for too long, we become accustomed to this hobbling, not realizing the excelling that Christ means for us to experience.
Like a sprinter on crutches for too long, we become accustomed to this hobbling, not realizing the excelling that Christ means for us to experience.
As believers, we are not intended to be hobblers. Although we are in fact weak on our own, the point of that knowledge has always been to move us to Christ’s strength. If we don’t find Him strong, we get accustomed to walking in weakness and begin believing that’s the norm. We miss the amazing power He promised and begin dumbing down the victory He gives. No athlete can thrive on survival rations.
When we experience a more regular diet of truth and fellowship throughout the week, we begin to thrive. When we expose ourselves to others in the body who are filled with the Spirit and interested in our growth, we can become much more rounded and mature .
In Christ, we are His sons and Daughters of the King. We are not “recovering addicts”. We are not defeated. Our people will not know or live out this new identity if we don’t invite them to experience the best example of Biblical training and equipping. Scripture says we are more than conquerors. That aroma of victory should be ever present in each of us. It won’t happen with an anorexic and sparse spiritual diet.
