Nearing Home - Billy Graham [55]
It is no accident that the Bible compares us to trees, urging us to be sure our spiritual roots are deep and strong. The psalmist wrote that the godly person “is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season” (Psalm 1:3). But a tree wasn’t always a tree. It began as a small seed, which in time sprouted and became a seedling. If conditions were right, that fragile seedling grew into a sapling and finally into a mature tree.
The same is true of spiritual life. It begins with a seed—the seed of God’s Word planted in the soil of our souls that eventually sprouts and becomes a new seedling. But—like a tree—that spiritual seedling isn’t meant to remain a seedling forever! It is meant to grow and become strong and mature, bearing fruit that is pleasing to God. The Bible illustrates this truth in another way. When we come to Christ, the Bible says, we are like newborn babies— bursting with new life, but helpless and weak and vulnerable to every kind of danger. But a baby isn’t meant to remain that way forever. Infants are meant to grow and eventually become adults— no longer helpless and weak and vulnerable, but able to take care of themselves and have full and productive lives.
The same is true for us spiritually. When we come to Christ, we are born again—that is, God our Heavenly Father works in our hearts by His Holy Spirit to give us new life as His children (John 3:1–17). But we aren’t meant to remain spiritual infants, weak and vulnerable to every temptation or doubt or falsehood or fear. God’s will is for us to grow strong in our faith and become spiritually mature, grounded in the truth of His Word and firmly committed to doing His will. The Bible says, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).
Giving your life to Christ is an essential first step—but it is only the first step. God’s will is for you to become spiritually mature, growing stronger in your relationship to Christ and your service for Him. But this takes both time and effort. Conversion is the work of an instant; spiritual maturity is the work of a lifetime. It is a journey with many steps, and it should be everyone’s main goal in life. Is it yours?
BECOMING MORE LIKE HIM
What is spiritual maturity? To put it another way, what does God want to do in our lives? What does He want to do in your life?
The Bible’s answer can be put in one sentence: God’s will is for us to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants to change us from within, taking away everything that dishonors Him and replacing it with Christ’s love and purity. From all eternity God’s plan was that we would be “conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). This is spiritual maturity: to become more and more like Christ in our “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).
Will we ever reach this goal? No, not completely in this life— but someday we will enter God’s presence forever, and then we will be totally free from sin’s grip. Then “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
So what about the present? Does this mean it is hopeless to strive for spiritual maturity? No! God wants to begin changing us from within and making us more like Christ right now. In Heaven that process will be complete; sin’s power over us will be destroyed, and we will inherit that Heavenly home Christ has prepared for us. Do you want to know what God’s will is for you? It is simply this: to become more like Christ. Do others see Christ in you?
DEVELOPING A ROOT SYSTEM
How can we develop a faith that will be strong enough to see us through the whole of our lives, including the uncertainties