Spiritual infatuation, just like romantic infatuation, is all about me.  Initially it seems as though it’s all about God.  New Christians are thrilled with what he has done for them, and rightfully so. But the focus of young believers’ lives is still mostly taken up with cultivating the new joy and spiritual depth that come from walking with God as well as how they’re doing with regard to defeating sins.  Eventually, God wants us to replace this infatuation with a mature relationship with him.  In a true friendship, it’s no longer “all about me”.  It’s about partnering with God to build his kingdom.  That means, first, being “fire-tested”, and second, growing in ways that we naturally wouldn’t be inclined to grow.  Instead of focusing on our desire for God to answer our prayers for things that concern us, spiritual maturity leads us to yearn for faithfulness, Christlikeness, and others-centeredness.

We live in a “me-first” culture, and often we try to individualize corporate promises, largely because we’re more concerned about what the Bible says to us individually than about how it calls us to live in community – that is, as those who are part of his Body.  Peter tells us, corporately, that we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God”.  Why?  Not for any individual purpose, but for a corporate one that honors God: “that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

When God calls us to himself, he calls us to his Church, to a purpose so much bigger than ourselves.  In a world where suffering and difficulty are certain, friendship with God frees us from being limited by what we don’t have, by what we are suffering, or by what we are enduring.  Mature friendship with God reminds us that our existence is much broader than even our suffering and difficulty.  God doesn’t offer us freedom from a broken world; instead, he offers us friendship with himself as we walk through a fallen world.  And those who persevere will find that this friendship is worth more, so very much more, than anything this fallen world can offer.

Today’s self-oriented gospel is no longer to the church.  Throughout history, God has always left his witness of a “classical faith” –  that is, a God-centered, authentic faith.  Not the faith of the Pharisees, who majored on the minors and made legalistic obedience their god.  Not the faith of those who see God as their ticket to comfort and ease; not even the faith that sees Christianity as the best self-help solution to make us “more disciplined”.  It’s true God has served us and does so daily, but ultimately, classical authentic Christianity is about glorifying, proclaiming, adoring, and obeying God.

Authentic faith is found, for instance, when we die to ourselves and put others first.  Such a faith is nurtured by learning contentment instead of spending our best energy and efforts trying to improve our lot in life.  Classical faith is strengthened in suffering, persecution, waiting, and even mourning.  Just as surely as water seeks the lowest point in the land, so such a faith seeks the least of all people.  Instead of holding on to grudges, authentic faith chooses forgiveness.  Authentic faith lives with another world in mind, recognizing that what we do in this broken world will be judged.

God brings authentic disciplines into our life when he wills and as he wills.  Just by reading or writing about suffering doesn’t bring us through suffering.  We can’t make these disciplines happen, as we can with fasting and meditation.  This is a God-ordained spirituality, dependent on his sovereign choice.

The traditional disciplines – fasting, meditation, study, prayer, and the like – are all crucial elements of building our faith.  However, they can foster pride, arrogance, self-sufficiency, religiosity, and worse.  I know…it happened to me.  There is no pride left when God takes me through a time of suffering. There is no self-righteousness when I am call to wait.  There is no religiosity when I am truly mourning. This is a spirituality I can’t control, can’t initiate, and can’t bring about.  It is a radical dependence on God’s husbandry.  All I can do is try to appreciate it and learn from it.  The rest – the duration of the trial, the intensity of the trial, the ultimate cessation of the trial – is almost always up to him.

My friends, if you ask God to increase your faith, watch out!  It is a prayer God delights to answer.

His servant by grace and mercy.

P.S. If God is willing and I am not lazy, I would continue to share what I learned from a book called “Authentic Faith” written by Gary Thomas.

An ordinary cracked jar of clay in the wounded hands of Jesus Christ.
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The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall
stand for ever.                                                                   Isaiah 40:8