Jesus is the only one who ever lived on earth who in every way pleased God the Father. He was everything the Father wanted Him to be. Now, it is the Father's intention to populate eternity with replicas of His Son. When He birthed you and me into His family, it was God's divine intention to conform us one day to the likeness of His Son. In between the experience of the new birth and eternal maturity there is intended to be a growth process, an experience of growing in grace and becoming more and more of what God wants us to be. These verses give marvelous insights into the psychology of spiritual growth. Here we have recorded for us three stages of spiritual development for God's children.
Stage 1 : Spiritual childhood - Seeking To Walk With God -
John speaks of two lessons that must be learned by the spiritual child if he is going to mature. Both have to do with our daily walk with God.
A Christian child needs to learn to walk with God . . .
A. Through claiming forgiveness - v. 12
One of the most basic lessons a Christian must learn is how to appropriate forgiveness for daily sin. Why do I say this?
Because undealt with sin ADDS to your troubles, SUBTRACTS from your energy, MULTIPLIES your difficulties and DIVIDES your interest in the things of God!
Although an atheist, Jean-Paul Sarte, in his play The Flies, gave a graphic description of guilt's burden: "You will think you are leaving it behind, but it will remain as heavy as before . . . Always it will be there, a dead weight holding you back . . . And nothing remains for you but to drag your crime after you until you die."
Although his description is vividly accurate about the effects of sin, Sarte's conclusion is wrong! Thanks be to God, we do not have to drag our sins after us until we die! God's forgiveness not only makes possible a relationship with Him through-out eternity, but fellowship with Him right now! That is why 1 John 1:9 is one of the most important verses in all the Bible! Through learning to appropriate daily forgiveness, a Christian can feel as clean everyday as they did on the first day they were saved. But in learning to walk with God, the
spiritual child needs to also learn how to walk with God . . .
B. Through consistent fellowship - v. 13c
A spiritual child needs to learn how to know God better through meditation on His Word and being aware of God's presence in his life.
Daily spending time with God is one of life's "essentials." It's impossible to develop intimacy in any relationship without consistent time alone; and our relationship with God is no exception.
My Precious Friend,
I am sending you this letter by way of one of my disciples. I just wanted to let you know how much I love and care about you and how I greatly desire to become a meaningful part of your life. This morning when you awoke, I was already there with you in the light of my beautiful sunshine that filled your room. So, I thought that you would say "Good Morning" to me; but you didn't. So I though maybe it was just a little too early in the day for you to notice.
Again, I tried to get your attention when you stepped out of your door. I kissed your face with a soft gentle breeze. I breathed upon you, my fragrant sweet breath scented with flowers. Then I sang you a love song through the birds in the trees. You just walked right past me.
Later on in this day, I sent you a refreshing shower and glistened to you from each rain drop. I even shouted to you a time or two with thunder trying to get your attention. Then, I painted you a lovely rainbow in the midst of my fluffy white clouds. I just knew you would see me then, but you were unaware of my presence. This evening, to close your day, I sent you a beautiful sunset. After that, I winked at you a thousand times through my stars, hoping that you would see me and wink back. You never did.
Tonight, when you went to bed, I spilled moonlight upon your face to let you know that I was there with you. I was hoping that you would talk to me a little before you went to sleep. You never said a word. It hurt me deeply; however, I continued to watch over you all through the night, thinking that maybe, just maybe, you would say hello to me in the morning. Each and every day, I have sought to make you aware of my presence, but you seem to ignore me.
I long for you to take the time to hear what I have to say through my Word, but you will not. I want you to know me better. There is so much I want to share with you. Please let me hear from you soon. Your Loving Friend, Jesus
Conclusion: There are two kinds of children in God's family -
1. The child for whom life is an ordeal.
2. The child for whom life is an adventure.
"Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God."
- John 13:3 (NLT)
I heard a sermon on this passage once. The preacher said that because:
1) Jesus knew who He was, He lived His life with nothing to hide;
2) Because He knew whose He was, He lived His life with nothing to prove;
3) Because He knew where He was going, He lived His life with nothing to fear.
In other words, Jesus was secure in the Father's love.
That's how God wants us to live - like Jesus - secure in our Father's love. When we meet with God daily and draw near to Him . . .
1) We are reminded who we are -
"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" - Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)
Because we are God's children, we have nothing to hide, because though we often fail, our God knows and loves us anyway. So we can confess our sin, and claim our forgiveness!
2) We are reminded whose we are -
“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” - Psalm 46:10 (NLT)
3) We are given daily guidance -
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV)
"At no other time have I so sharp an understanding of what God means to do with me as in those hours when other folks are still asleep. Then I hear God best and learn His plan!" - George Washington Carver
We once took a vacation and went camping. Our ultimate destination was to go to iron creek up north of Silver City, New Mexico. We borrowed a small camp trailer from my folks and took off. On our way, however, we stopped for a gathering of Donna's family in Mesquite, New Mexico. Before arriving at the gathering, we took a detour and stopped off to visit her cousin, Paul. Paul and his wife, Susie, had a dog, who was eating, when our oldest, Josh, decided to pet him. He didn't take kindly to this and turned and snapped at Josh, just catching the tip of his nose. It didn't cause any severe damage, but Josh's nose was as red as Rudolph's nose. Well, we went on to the location of the family get together. This was on Saturday. The next day, we planned on going to church with Donna's Uncle Troy and Aunt Louise. When we woke up, however, the entire area was flooded from a rain the previous night. We got dressed for church as best we could, and then waded out to the car to go to church. Now this was back in the day when ladies wore pantyhose, and Donna brought her pair to put on in the car on the way. That was quite a sight as you can imagine! Well, when we finally did arrive at Iron Creek, our younger son, Jeff, was wading in the creek when his foot came in contact with a piece of metal that cut his big toe open. After all this, our youngest, Jill, said, "This has been a horrible vacation!" So we made up this song: "It's a horrible vacation, Josh got bit on the nose; it's a horrible vacation, mom wrestled with her pantyhose; it's a horrible vacation, Jeff got cut on the toes; it's a horrible vacation, that's how it sometimes goes!"
What could have been an experience we couldn't wait to forget, became instead, an experience we still remember. Why? Because a mother's love turned everything into a grand adventure. And that's what the Father's love can do for us, if we will learn to walk daily in intimate fellowship and communion with Him.
Living life assured of the Father's love is essential if we are going to move on to spiritual adolescence, and focus on striving to work for God.
