The Fuel for Your Life

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NASB95) “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

A holy life and walk, which must always depend on the enabling power of the Spirit, is as much demanded of one believer as of another. There is not one standard of life for one class of believers, and another standard of life for another class of believers. If there is a child of God who has not the Spirit in him, he must, with all reason, be excused from these responsibilities which anticipate the power and presence of the Spirit. The fact that God addresses all believers as though they possess the Spirit is sufficient evidence that they have the Spirit. He That is Spiritual, L. S. Chafer.

It is hard enough to live in the real world each day with all that life throws our way. It is even harder for the Christian to live the life God intended in the flesh; in fact, it is impossible. Yet many Christians try to do it every single day. Chafer says that all of us are grouped into one class of Christianity, and that is it. There is not but one class of Christian. Yet many Christians each day try to live this life in many of their own ways each day. This is why we have half-hearted congregations in our churches today and many which are powerless. Few members of the congregation may lead a life and walk in the Spirit according to the Bible’s program for their lives, while others deem what is important in their life and relative to the Scriptures and never apply any. Yet sadly for many, these people live lives in the same futility they lived prior to their own salvation; doing the same thing and expecting differing results. The previous two cases experience great frustration with the Christian life and question their salvation at times.

While speaking to a group of prisoners in jail this Monday, I showed them to see a chart from college some years back. It was presented by Dr. Rodney Dempsey at Liberty University about Spiritual Development.

I would like to share that with you today. And even today, this blog might become quite long in explaining this process I think it might bring some perspective to the Christian life.

If you note the bottom of the triangle is larger. The top is smaller than the bottom as well. We all enter into salvation by saving faith in Jesus Christ on the bottom rung of this illustration. All who come to Christ come through salvation and eternal security. This is the first rung.

If you note something else, the triangle and the other rungs of the ladder get smaller while they go upward toward the ultimate goal of each Christian life, which is Glory to God. This means that fewer and fewer Christians ever experience a life of Sanctification, Serving, Giving, Fruitfulness and ultimately a life which brings Glory to God. This is pictured in the rungs getting smaller as the triangle progresses toward the top.

The problem with this illustration though is not the process; but the person. The process mentioned above is God’s plan for the Christian life. Unfortunately, Christians do not or have not entered into the second tier (Sanctification/ Spiritual Growth) or as I like to term it as Discipleship and if they do, there are fewer than those who enter into salvation. And the list of those who are moving toward the ultimate goal gets smaller and smaller as you progress up the ladder. This is why we have a half-hearted congregation. They have never experienced the life Jesus intended here on this earth.

As Chafer mentions in his writing above, all these are powered by the Spirit’s presence as he notes, “A holy life and walk, which must always depend on the enabling power of the Spirit.” You see, most Christians have a problem with Spiritual growth. It involves the Spirit’s power to grow though. This takes two simple words most Christians are afraid to hear though: Time and Work (as quoted by the late Dr. Howard Hendricks). By investing in these two, time and work within God’s Word, vast amounts of personal growth occur. This is because the Spirit of God is the power and teacher to us as we learn more about our loving and personal God. He is the key to our locked life. He is the one who brings us into intimacy with a loving God.

Today, I encourage you to take a look at the chart above and honestly take a hard look at where you might be today. It is never too late to start! Then, this season you will begin to understand the valuable gift God gave to the world and the high price it cost Him!