Spiritual maturity seems to be a fleeting goal among modern Christianity.  In the pursuit of being relevant, we have left behind the virtuous attributes of spiritual formation.  Perhaps we shun such lofty aspirations because we fear what others will think.  We may believe that maturity is an objective too difficult to obtain.  Or possibly, and perhaps most dangerously, we are afraid of change.  Steve Farrar said, “Perpetual adolescence is the curse of modern culture.  Everyone wants to be young instead of mature.”

The apostle Paul told the juvenile church at Corinth, “When I was a child, I spake as a …

Have you ever read the Bible all the way through?  The secret to spiritual success for the new year will be found in the daily intake of God’s Word. Period.  Most of us have difficulty going one day without food.  Typically, after just a few short hours, we crave something else to eat.  But Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.”  Without a consistent and continual diet of God’s Word, the spiritual man will go hungry.  Some of us could be starving at this very moment.

I …

My wife is a dental hygienist.  She constantly stresses to my family the importance of flossing.  Most people have no problem brushing their teeth multiple times a day, but flossing is another story.  The American Dental Association recommends flossing at least once a day, but a majority of Americans disregard the recommendation.  Brushing alone will not give a person the total dental health that they need.

If this is true in the natural sense, it is certainly true in the spiritual.  From time to time we should do some spiritual flossing.  Oh sure, we have a daily regimen of brushing, …

The great devotional writer Oswald Chambers said, “If God allows you to be stripped of the exterior portions of your life, He means for you to cultivate the interior.”  Cultivating the interior is the essence of devotion.  True devotion is knowing that you will never be able to repay Christ for Calvary, but giving it a daily attempt.  It is, as David MacIntyre puts it, the time in which we “discover the excellence of God’s character, and by beholding Him we also allow Him to transform the soul.”  If the soul needs “interior cultivation” then devotion is the soil in …

Of all the spiritual activities in which a believer is expected to embrace, prayer, at least in my own experience, is perhaps the most neglected and perplexing.  I don’t want it to be.  I want, as I am sure you want, to be a prayer warrior.  I want to be a champion of intercession and supplication, but to my chagrin, I fall short of such a title. Instead of a warrior, I often feel like a water-boy: a weak, unlearned novice that half-heartedly mumbles a few sophomoric words of random religiosity.  You know what I mean: vague, common, memorized statements …