Articles
Aiming Higher
If you haven't already put together your New Year's resolutions, I pray that you will make spiritually-related resolutions the priority and, if so, it is all about doing better and aiming higher than the past year. Spiritual improvement and maturity is a good thing, and it is something every Christian should be striving for constantly — not just something to think about at the end, or beginning, of each calender year.
May I offer a few things to add to your list? These things are goals everyone should be striving for, whether you are a believer or unbeliever, new to the faith or an old soldier. Consider these things, and I pray you have a better year.
Get to Know God Better. I don't care whether you are a skeptic, atheist, babe in Christ, or a long-time servant of God, this is something we all should do. If you are married, you understand why: The better you know one another, the stronger the relationship will be!
If you are an atheist or skeptic, you should get to know God better, too. I am afraid many who claim to be atheist or skeptics have just not taken the time to do an honest investigation for themselves, but have taken the word of other disbelievers and skeptics without doing some fact-checking, and have been deceived by some who love to call themselves 'critical thinkers.' Apparently, if someone else does all the critical thinking, that's okay to take them at their word, without a personal investigation? I am afraid many reading this have never actually opened a Bible and done a thorough, unbiased investigation into the picture of God as He has revealed it to mankind, and are relying more on hearsay and negative, prejudiced thinking and viewpoints — more so than actual facts.
You need to know God because, one day, you and I and every individual who has ever lived on Earth will stand before Him to give an account to Him in the final Judgment (Rom. 14:12). But I don't want you to get to know God simply because you don't want to go to hell; no, all of us need to get to know Him better because He is an awesome God! He is not the capricious, unjust, and bloodthirsty God some disbelievers portray Him to be, but is loving, longsuffering, gracious, and merciful. This is the God who could have simply wiped mankind off the face of the earth because every one of us transgressed His will (Rom. 3:23), but He had already conceived of a plan by which we could all be forgiven and reconciled to Him, instead. He “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). That means He loves each one of us in spite of our sins, and wants us all to be saved, instead of standing before Him guilty of sin and facing eternal condemnation. He “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9), so it isn't the case He wants to send anyone to hell, but quite the opposite! He wants all men to be saved, but He leaves the choice up to us.
Get To Know Your Bible Better. This will, of course, go a long way in accomplishing the first task, but the Scriptures give us much more than a picture of God and His character. It is through the written word God “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3) — that is, He has given us the words by which all men, who were dead in their sins, could learn of the means of being made spiritually alive (Eph. 2:5-9; Col. 2:11-13) and the words that tell us of the life we are to now live that will be pleasing to Him. Since these are the words by which we will be judged (John 12:47, 48), they are important!
Studying God's word more will also help each one of us to become even more familiar with the Scriptures and, thus, be more apt and willing to teach others. Since every disciple must be able to teach in order to lead lost souls who are now trapped in “the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:24-26), knowing the Scriptures is important! Don't ever take them for granted, for they are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). The answer to this world's problems lie within these Divinely-inspired words, and the means to spiritual growth and strength are there, too. Get to know the Scriptures better because the word of God is the Sword of the Spirit — the only offensive weapon in our spiritual arsenal (Eph. 6:10-17).
Get To Know Your Fellow Believers Better. Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment: “that you love one another; as I have loved you,” and then said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34, 35). Now, with this being true, can we see how important this is? This is the identifying mark of the disciple of Jesus Christ! If we lack this, the world will have no clue that we are one of His followers!
Now, to be able to love one another as Jesus desires, we have to know one another! How well do you know each one of your brothers or sisters in Christ at the congregation you are a part of? I would imagine we could all improve in this area, for we don't really know one another much more than which pew they sit on each week.
This coming year, make an effort to get to know one another better; invite someone into your home and just talk to one another. Ask about them, rather than talking about yourself, because when you're talking, you aren't listening and, if you're not listening, you're not learning anything about them. Ask questions; find out what's gong on in their lives. That is how we can know if any of us have needs, or could just use some conversation every once in awhile.
And when you take the time to talk to one another, build on that by not limiting yourself to others in your same age group. You might be surprised what you can learn from some older folks — and some of the younger ones. Older folks have years of experience you can't buy, and younger folks might surprise you by how much they know and can do if we'd just give them a chance.
Get To Know Yourself Better. One of the most important things we can do for ourselves spiritually is to regularly make an honest self-examination to see where we stand. It wouldn't hurt to have someone else keep an eye on us, either, and who will give us an honest evaluation of where we stand because we sometimes have 'blind spots' of our own shortcomings. Regardless, it is important you know your true condition because you can be sure your spiritual adversary knows!
We may remember he is constantly on the prowl, seeking someone to devour or destroy (1 Pet. 5:8), and he is certain to be on the lookout for our weaknesses and use them against us (Jas. 1:14). If you don't know your own weaknesses, you will not be able to defend against those temptations or stand in the midst of trials when they come. Self-examination time is not a good time to overlook faults.
There are many more things we can do to improve our spiritual strength, maturity, and standing before God, but in all things, “excel still more.” — Steven Harperr
