If there ever was a time in my lifetime that the church needed to be the church it is now! Our country is off course. Our country is in trouble, but the good news is that our country is ripe for the message of Jesus and mass revival!
You and I must be focused on going deep with Jesus so that we can be what is needed in the world as we move into the future. If 2020 revealed that we didn’t have the spiritual roots needed to weather storms like we have been through, we best be focused on getting some roots put into some spiritual soil. We cannot continue to put off becoming immersed in the spiritual activities that will prepare us to be God’s people in any situation. God’s plan to bring help to the world is for us to be like Jesus in the world. We can’t do that through good intentions. It will only happen as we become like Jesus first in a private, deliberate way that enables us to move into the public square to speak and move and act in His authority and with His love. We cannot speak for Jesus if we don’t know what He has said or what He wants to say. We cannot act like Jesus if our hearts haven’t been conditioned to respond to the heartbeat of God.
Look at I Peter 2:1-3: 2 Therefore, RID yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Rid. Crave. Grow up. Peter says we are to rid ourselves of anything that keeps us from putting down spiritual roots. We are to cultivate a craving for spiritual things in order to grow up in Christ. This is a formula for building spiritual strength. These activities should be on the daily to-do list for every believer. We need to do these things every day in order to gain the spiritual strength we need to meet life’s challenges and in order to be the people of God. After all, that is the goal.
If you read on in I Peter 2 you see that we have been chosen by God to be a royal priesthood while here on the earth. We are to be people of light, people of joy, and people of praise. We cannot do that if we have no joy. We cannot do that if we have no peace. We cannot do that if we have no spiritual power.
Peter said that in order to grow up in Christ we have to RID ourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Getting rid of stuff is my goal for 2021. It won’t happen by simply acknowledging that my house is too crowded and by picturing what my closets will look like once I get them organized. It is going to take effort. I will have to schedule time to do it. I will likely have to say “No” to some other things in order to have time to get rid of what I need to get rid of.
Why does God want us to get rid of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind? It’s because those are practices that aren’t consistent with the holiness of God and they will keep us on shallow ground in our faith. They will also keep us from being successful in our witness to others.
Peter’s list isn’t an exhaustive list. Maybe there wasn’t something on the list that struck a chord with you, but maybe your life has gotten cluttered with other things that have taken your time and focus off of growing in Christ and has resulted in spiritual weakness that has been revealed during 2020.
If you are a Christian, the most important thing you can do for yourself, the most effective thing you can do to war against Satan, and the most strategic thing you can do for the Kingdom of God is to grow deep in Christ.
Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”
We have got to take out the trash, to remove the clutter, to clean out some closets to rid ourselves of spiritual hindrances. Some of us are holding onto anger that isn’t helping us. Some of us are tied to the past in a way that is keeping us from growing spiritually. Some of us are in fights with friends and family for various reasons. Some of us are complacent and lazy. Some of us are blaming the pandemic as to why we are spiritually anemic. Some of us have given ourselves over to addictions and strongholds that are keeping us from experiencing God in His power. God says, “Enough. Put away excuses and rid your life of every stumbling block. Do whatever it takes to remove whatever is hindering your spiritual growth.” Christians, it is time to detox!
In addition to getting rid of spiritual hindrances we have to develop a craving for spiritual things. Peter said in verse 2 of I Peter 2: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk.” When you crave something there is an intensity about it. When you crave something, you formulate a plan to have the craving satisfied. When you crave something, you also do something to satisfy the craving.
It’s easier when the craving is natural, when the craving is just tied to your personality and natural drive, but what about when there is little desire? What if you aren’t craving the things that lead to spiritual growth? You have to cultivate a desire. You have to will yourself to do what is necessary in order to make progress. If you believe that growing in Christ is important and necessary, if you understand it as the path to abundant life, you can make the effort to do the things that will help you develop a craving for them.
If you will get into the Word of God on a regular basis and commit to a routine, you will begin to crave it because what you read won’t just begin to make sense and instruct you in a way that you can understand, but it will also cultivate a sensitivity to the voice of God and you will begin to hear God talk to you in your daily life when you aren’t even reading the Word.
We will never go deep with God if do not develop an appetite for the things of God.
Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” It is truly those with a fierce desire for the things of God who will get filled.
How hungry have you been for God this past year? How deep have your spiritual roots grown?
