As we proceed toward considering how we can help build the highway for our God, we want to occasionally fortify the foundations of our own spiritual lives. Just as there were five pillars at the door of the Holy Place in the tabernacle of God and the Holy of Holies, there are five basic principles that enable us to enter the deeper realms of the spiritual life. These are basics which we should have growing in our lives, regardless of how mature we become. They are:
1) To continually grow in our personal relationship to the King.
We must never forget that loving God is the highest calling and our main purpose on this earth. Seeking to continually know Him better and love Him more is the most important element of our lives. If we are not growing in these, then anything else we are pursuing will be shaky at best.
2) To continually grow in faith.
Hebrews 11:6 states, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Therefore, it should be a basic devotion to also be growing in our faith and trust in Him.
3) To continually grow in effective prayer.
As it is said of the Lord, "...He always lives to make intercession..." (Hebrews 7:25). If we are abiding in Him, we, too, will be making intercession continually. This is why we are told in I Thessalonians 5:17 to "pray without ceasing." However, the evidence that we are truly abiding in Him will be answered prayer, not just prayer activity.
4) To continually grow in our knowledge of His Word and sound doctrine.
If He who was the Word would continually stand on, "It is written..." (see Matthew 4), when challenged or tempted by the devil, how much more should we, knowing the Bible is fundamental to a strong and successful Christian life.
5) To continually grow in and strengthen our relationship to the body of Christ.
It is not possible to be properly joined to the Head without also being properly joined to His body, the church. In truth, the strength of our relationship to the Lord will be revealed by the strength of our relationship to His church.
To be effective members of the body of Christ, we must also grow in the knowledge and exercise of our own spiritual gifts and ministries. This is stated succinctly in Ephesians 4:15-16, "but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." Just as a hand could not function without knowing it is a hand and being properly joined to a wrist, we, too, must all know our own function in His body and be joined rightly to it.
There are true Christians and pseudo Christians. There are true churches and pseudo churches. As we proceed into the times ahead, both will become increasingly manifest. By the end of this age, there will be a church on this earth that is a worthy bride of the King. We can expect the Head to be joined to a body, which will be more perfect in beauty and function than any human body. His church will be a city set on a hill which can be beheld by all because of her great light in the midst of the darkness.
The church will be a clear demonstration of His kingdom on the earth, the ultimate fellowship of the citizens of another realm—the realm of heaven. Ultimately, every citizen of the kingdom will walk in all of the benefits of that citizenship. By this, the church will help to establish a highway between heaven and earth that all may enter and likewise be elevated and transformed.
This cannot happen without the church becoming the community of those citizens of the kingdom that she is called to be. Those who are growing in their purpose will become increasingly identified with the kingdom above all other relationships. The community of the saints will become the greatest and most powerful community the world has ever seen. Ultimately, this community will even eclipse the great community that the church was in the first century, which was but a seed of what will come to full maturity at the harvest which is the end of the age.
From this community, which will also be an impregnable fortress of truth, righteousness and justice will extend to set others free. In the foundational pillars of a healthy Christian life, many include being a witness, and this is a result of a healthy life more than a discipline. However, if our life is not a witness, a demonstration of what it is like to be a citizen of the heavenly kingdom, then something is certainly awry in our walk.
Our witness should be on two levels—the personal and the corporate. A strong church will be a strong witness to individuals. A strong church will be a strong witness to its community. When the church worldwide becomes strong, then the whole world will see the light of the gospel. This does not mean that those who see the light will necessarily come to it. Those who love darkness more than the light will react viciously to the light, but they will see it.
We are commanded in II Corinthians 13:5: "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!" It is right that we should regularly evaluate our lives to ensure that we are growing in these basics. If we are growing in these, we will be bearing fruit. Just as biology teaches that once any living thing stops growing, it starts the process of deterioration and dying; the same is true of us spiritually. If we are not continually growing spiritually, we are dying spiritually.
The process of dying spiritually begins with slipping into lukewarmness. How could anyone who knows the living God be lukewarm about Him? This is an ultimate insult and affront to the One who would even give His own Son for our redemption and restoration.
If He is our first love, then seeking Him and doing His will is the most basic devotion of our lives. More than advancing in our profession, more than accumulating wealth or any other accomplishments, we will measure the success of our lives by how close to God we have become and how much more we love Him above all things. If we love Him as we should, we will love everyone and everything more than we would otherwise.
What we really love and esteem is measured by what we devote most of our time and efforts to. We will discipline ourselves for what we truly love. Tragically, many who start to seek God are led only to religion, and there are few things more boring than religion. However, there is nothing in creation more interesting than God, nothing we can experience more fulfilling than a relationship with Him, and there is no adventure greater than the true Christian life.
The true Christian life is the greatest quest, the most noble cause. There is nothing more exciting than following the King. However, just as in any sport, the two or three hours spent in the game are backed up by many, many hours of disciplined conditioning and practice, the same is true of the Christian walk. For every pass a quarterback throws in a professional football game, he has probably thrown thousands in practice from the time he was a child. The Christians who are used to do great exploits are those who have devoted themselves to being ready.
I have occasionally spoken to NFL teams in their chapel services. One team asked me to eat the pre-game meal with them. As I sat with some of the best players in the game, I asked some of them how they had risen to the pinnacle of their sport. Each one described having a dream of playing professional football from the time they were very young. Through their teenage years they spent hours a day practicing. While their friends spent their time in various pursuits of entertainment, they worked at developing their skills and building up their bodies for endurance and strength—hard work. Most had started to focus on a single position they wanted to play while a young teen and had not deviated.
There are millions of kids who dream of playing professional football, but not many have the discipline, focus, and resolve to actually get there. Anyone who plays any sport at the professional level has accomplished something truly remarkable. However, just as Paul the Apostle pointed out, these do so for "a perishable wreath" (see I Corinthians 9:25), just a few moments of fleeting glory, but we are running the race for eternal rewards!
What would happen if Christians began pursuing their purposes, their place on God's team, their place in His body, with the kind of discipline, focus, and resolve that athletes do for their team? If a sports team reaches its goal of winning it all, their reward may be an occasional rerun of the game on ESPN, but ours is an eternal reward—a wreath that will never perish!
True faith is recognizing who the Lord is. Those who recognize Him, serve Him accordingly. His team is far more glorious, fulfilling, and wonderful than any human team. To acquire any position on His team is the highest purpose that one can have in this life. When His people wake up to this reality and begin to order and focus their lives accordingly, even two from this team will be able to again turn the world upside down and shake the mightiest empires of man. That is precisely what we are soon to witness—God's people waking up to their high calling in Christ and giving themselves to their calling in Him with the resolve and focus that it deserves.
