Spiritual Growth – A Matter of Inflow and Outflow

Growth in the natural realm can be a bit of a mystery. Take a boy for an example: As an adolescent he may be one of the shorter members of his class; then he hits the teenage years and shoots up 5-6 inches within just a few months. “What have you been feeding that kid?” friends might ask.

 

Or planting a garden, cultivating the ground and sowing seeds you hope will supply you with vegetables throughout the summer. For a while it might appear that nothing is happening – other than the growth of some pesky weeds. Then suddenly you see some sprouts, and within a matter of a few weeks you’ve got your own personal farm. How this growth occurs seems a bit mysterious; nature seems to work according to its own schedule.

 

Spiritual growth might be perceived as similarly mysterious. Some people seem to have a close walk with God, possessing a clear understanding of what the Scriptures teach and living it out every day in a fairly consistent manner. Meanwhile others are just muddling along. They attend worship services, may be part of a small group, even read their Bibles, but their growth seems stagnant or stunted.

 

What’s the difference?

 

It’s not such a great mystery. In presenting what’s sometimes known as the “parable of the shrewd manager,” Jesus Christ indicated it’s a simple matter of being faithful to use what we already have, whether it’s a little or a lot. He stated, “Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who can entrust you with true riches?” (Luke 9-11).

 

On the face of it, this is a teaching about stewardship of money and material riches. But as Jesus said, it also applies to “true riches” – eternal, heavenly treasures of which He said at another time, “where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20).

 

What does it mean, as another translation expresses it, that “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones”? One thing it means is that if we are not willing to use and put into practice the spiritual truths and ‘riches’ God entrusts to us, He’s not inclined to provide us with more. Why should He give us more if we’re wasting what we already have?

 

There’s an encounter early in Jesus’ earthly ministry that seems to illustrate this. Speaking to a woman at a well outside the Samaritan city of Sychar, Jesus made this astonishing declaration after He had asked her to give Him a drink from the well: 

“If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.” A bit later in this spontaneous conversation, He asserted, “…whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again…the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life” (John 4:7-14).

 

Initially, the woman had understood Him to be referring to actual water, good ole H2O. Then she realized the conversation had taken a spiritual turn. He was offering her “living water…springing up within for eternal life.” This evokes the image of a spring of water bubbling up and flowing outward, accessible to anyone who wants it.

 

Commenting on this passage, devotional writer Selwyn Hughes posed this question: “Do fresh springs flow out of us day after day? If not, why not? The answer is simple – there can be no outflow unless there is an inflow. This is the rhythm of the Holy Spirit – intake and outflow. If there is more intake than outflow, then the intake stops; if there is more outflow than intake, then the outflow stops.”

 

For years I’ve referred to this as “God’s Spiritual Sponge Principle.” Just like an actual sponge that’s become saturated must be squeezed out before it can soak up more liquid, as ‘spiritual sponges’ we’re allowed by God to absorb only as much of His truth as we’re willing to put to use in our everyday lives.

 

I like how Philemon 6 is expressed in an older edition of the NIV: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”

 

This doesn’t mean we need to grab our Bibles, find a street corner somewhere and start preaching from it to everyone who passes by. (Although it could, if God were to lead someone in that way.) But as 1 Peter 3:15 instructs, we’re to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

 

Another verse says every believer should be willing to “Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction” (1 Timothy 4:2).

 

‘But I’m not ready. I don’t know enough yet,’ someone might be thinking. Maybe that’s because that person hasn’t been faithful to share whatever biblical truth and understanding the Lord has already provided. As Philemon 6 suggests, as we’re “active in sharing [our] faith,” then we’re able to gain “a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” And as we learn more, we become better equipped to communicate what we believe.

 

Years ago, I had been trying to memorize a particularly lengthy Bible verse but couldn’t retain some portions of it. Then I decided to read and share it with someone I worked with – a non-believer. I didn’t do so to proselytize but figured it wouldn’t hurt for him to hear it. Before long, I found I could recite the passage verbatim; I’ve talked about it with other people many times since.

 

There are many ways of sharing our faith beyond personal evangelism. Talking about God’s Word with family members at home. Or telling our small group what a certain passage has meant to us. In a discipling or spiritual mentoring relationship, we’re doing the same when discussing the meaning and application of a specific verses or section of Scripture.

 

Any time we chat with others about what the Lord has been teaching us, or how He’s been working in our lives, it’s an opportunity to ‘squeeze our spiritual sponge,’ making room for God to entrust us with more of His “true riches.” Balancing the inflow and outflow.

Ye Faithful, Are You Coming?

Now that we’re fully immersed in the Christmas season, turkey cadavers successfuly transferred to our trash cans, it’s time for hearing lots of familiar holiday tunes. We’ll all be “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” We’ll feel sad if we learn “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” And we’ll go to sleep “Dreaming of a White Christmas.”

But we’ll also listen to more traditional music that points to the real focus of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. One of those is the revered hymn, “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The words and melody will echo in churches across the land, but what do we really mean by “faithful”?

This book by Dr. Jimmy Ray Lee tells
about God's faithfulness - and ours.

It’s a word that frequently appears in the Bible, sometimes to describe God’s people and other times regarding God Himself. Recently I was part of a small group of men and women discussing what it means to be faithful. Synonyms suggested included being steadfast, reliable, persevering, devoted, and demonstrating unswerving commitment.

The Scriptures offer God’s perspective on how He perceives faithfulness. In Luke 16:10, Jesus declared, “He who is faithful in little will also be faithful in much.” He made a similar statement in Matthew 25:21-23, in a parable describing shrewd stewardship: “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things….”

In both instances, Jesus seems to be saying that faithfulness means more than regularly attending worship services, or learning how to speak and act in prescribed ways. It’s being faithful even in little things, whether it involves responsibilities, resources, or whatever God chooses to entrust to us.

The tiny book of Philemon says this applies even to spiritual growth. “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ” (Philemon 6). As I understand it, this is telling us that if we are faithful to share what God has taught us with others, whether in an evangelistic or discipling setting, He then will give us more. Conversely, if we’re not willing to pass along what He’s already given to us, why should He entrust us with more?

At the same time, faithfulness is not something we muster up on our own. Our source is from God alone. For instance, the apostle Paul admonished his young disciple, Timothy, “if we are faithless, (God) remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). Writing to members of the early Church, Paul offered this encouragement: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

My friend, Dr. Jimmy Ray Lee, has compiled a book called Faithful, No Matter What. In it he presents more than 40 captivating stories about how God manifested His faithfulness in the lives of men and women, sometimes in miraculous ways, and sometimes in an ordinary but very timely manner. Many of these accounts also tell of how these individuals in turn have endeavored to respond to God’s faithfulness by being faithful to Him – no matter what the circumstances might have been.

Indeed, we can be faithful to God only because of our faith in Him, our trust in His faithfulness. So this season, as we hear the familiar refrains of “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” let’s remember that we can come to Him only because of the great things the Lord has already done for us.All Ye Faithful,” let’s remember that we can come to Him only because of the great things the Lord has already done for us.