But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
2 Peter 3:18 (NIV).
The author Watchman Nee in his book ‘The Spiritual Man’ declared that a Christian enters a decidedly hazardous period of his life upon coming to know the truth of co-death and experiencing something of freedom from sin. If at this juncture he receives good instructions and permits the Holy Spirit to apply the Cross to himself in a deeper way, he will eventually reach spiritual maturity. But if the believer is content to view his experience of victorious life as an apogee or climax of attainment and forbids the Cross to contravene his soul life, then he will abide in the soulical realm and mistake his soulical experience for a spiritual one.
The author in essence describes carnal Christians who are controlled by their own sinful nature. Their obedience is to their natural appetites rather than to the things of God. They restrict themselves to the A, B, C, levels and never get deep into the Word of God, causing them to remain stagnant and unproductive.
It is evident from the foregoing, that one cannot be a carnal Christian and experience spiritual growth in Christ. The carnal believer needs to yield to the Holy Spirit to break the control of the old sin nature so that his carnal lifestyle can be changed.
The Apostle Paul encouraged the believers to go on to spiritual maturity. In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, he informs the brethren that he could not address them as spiritual people but as babes in Christ of which he had to feed with milk, not meat since they were not mature enough to consume the same. He (Paul) highlighted their carnal nature when he alluded to the works of the flesh of envying, strife and divisions that operated in their lives.
Continuity in carnality will definitely stymie the believer’s growth; choosing to remain under that status quo, will result in the development of a Luciferian personality disease which God abominates.
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, You want Your people to find out where they went wrong and get back on the right path. Your people need to regain their first love and are prepared to fast, pray and meditate until they are in the right fellowship with you. Help Oh God Your people to stir up the spirit within them, to repent and return to the same zeal and devotion that they had shown at the beginning of their conversion, in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Read: 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Revelation 2:7
Bible Reading Guide: Psalm 63; John 10:22-42; 1 Samuel 1; 1 Samuel 2:1-26
