How does the Spirit work His art of Christlikeness into our lives? Not without our cooperation. The Spirit’s part is to help us be obedient to do His work, and ours is to order our lives and practice the spiritual disciplines. But how?
FEEDING ON THE WORD
As it is in the physical realm, so it is in the spiritual: we cannot grow unless we eat. As we absorb, read, highlight, learn, and inwardly digest the Scriptures, we become mature believers and good examples to others. Read a little from the Bible every day—twice a day if you can, morning and evening. Begin to study the Bible more than you do now. Go deeper. Use a commentary to study a book or an epistle. Take notes. Apply the lessons you’ve learned from it. Is your life worth imitating when it comes to Bible knowledge? Do people ask you to show them how to know their Bible like you do? Are you getting your life instructions from God’s Word and being obedient?
HANDLING DIFFERENCES LIKE BIG PEOPLE
One of the most significant signs of the spiritual art of maturity is how well we handle our differences. Do we handle our differences Christianly? Is there a spirit of competition in our church, and are we caught up in it? Are you growing to love people—with a love that transcends all barriers, a love that loves those you don’t even like? And even a love for the lost?
CARING DEEPLY ABOUT LOST PEOPLE
Paul is in tears as he talks about these people (3:18). His heart is broken over the lost people. Is ours? He loves the sinner and hates the sin. Do we? Or do we rebuke the sinner and separate our hearts and ourselves from their dilemmas? Do we care—really care—about lost people? If we really love people with the love of Christ, we will care about people who live like the devil and think that they will get away with it. We know that isn’t true. “Their destiny is destruction,” says Paul (3:19). Jesus wept over people who rejected Him. A broken heart for the lost only happens to mature people. To cry for the lost as well as the found is the Spirit’s art.
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