Students and Missionaries from QLD UniversitiesLast week we had our annual midyear retreat up at Mt. Tambourine. It was cold as usual and God was extraordinary as usual.
One of my training groups:
Peter (missionary from Korea), Max (Hong Kong), Eric (China),
Champ (Thailand), Pharos (China), Vincy (China), and me
What God Taught Me
One of my training groups:Peter (missionary from Korea), Max (Hong Kong), Eric (China),
Champ (Thailand), Pharos (China), Vincy (China), and me
What God Taught Me
I have to admit that I went into the week with a wrong attitude, thinking I would solely be a listening ear and a teacher; however, God intended for me to be a student as well. The main speaker was John North. For the week the theme was "Inside Out" and John took that to talk to us about our spiritual lives as the analogy of a tree.
On this tree we tend to focus on the fruit: Godly choices and Christ-like character. However, no tree ever labors to produce fruit, they just grow naturally. So it should be in our spiritual lives, it should be of no effort of our own. The first step to spiritual growth is the desire to be totally committed to the leadership of Christ in my life. But we cannot focus on the fruit; fruit grows on branches.
These branches represent Kingdom values. Our choices and character are direct consequences of what we value. Therefore, if we value the things God values our actions will also be Godly. Yet, how do you acquire our values? It is through what we fill our mind with that has direct and intensely powerful influence over us. What controls our mind, controls us: our values and actions.
The branches grow from the trunk of the tree. The trunk represents our mind. So how can we be intentional with our mind? We can make conscience decisions of where to spend our time and what will enter our mind. The mind is like a battle field and every strategic soldier does three things: identifies the enemy, understands the battle ground, and fights. There are three enemies every Christian has: the World, the sin nature, and Satan. Our battle ground is our mind:
Those things that will produce kingdom values are the spiritual disciplines we often classify as the those things "good Christians" do. These are the roots of our tree and are things like devotionals, going to Church, fasting, prayer, worship, etc. But the roots are not the end, they have a purpose. Roots are for the soil, to absorb nutrients and water. If the water is the Word of God then the soil is our relationship with God.
So if it all begins with the soil we extend our roots into then we must make sure it is rich and life giving. Everything about my Christian life is about my relationship with God. Every aspect of our Christianity must be relational. Some examples are:
1. Nominal= Christian in name only
2. Traditional= Christian by involvement with Church (Churchianity)
3. Habitual= Christian by doing "Christian" things (following a formula)
4. Theoretical= Christian by love for God's Word but it remains just theory, no application
5. Personal= Christian by a loving relationship with God, walking with Him
As Christians our first priority is to love God and our ultimate purpose is to be used by Him. This is the Christian life as a tree which bears fruit. Don't forget that the fruit is never intended for the tree. When you bear fruit it is for the benefit of others, both Christian and not.
I really love this analogy and God taught me a new way to look at spiritual growth. He also gave me a tearful night when I spoke to one of the girls about Satan. It wasn't as though I never realized it before, but it just struck me: God is heart broken, hurt... God, my God doesn't deserve to be hurt, especially by me! I love how God reveals himself at the most unexpected times. So, MYC was a great week in more ways than one.
On this tree we tend to focus on the fruit: Godly choices and Christ-like character. However, no tree ever labors to produce fruit, they just grow naturally. So it should be in our spiritual lives, it should be of no effort of our own. The first step to spiritual growth is the desire to be totally committed to the leadership of Christ in my life. But we cannot focus on the fruit; fruit grows on branches.
These branches represent Kingdom values. Our choices and character are direct consequences of what we value. Therefore, if we value the things God values our actions will also be Godly. Yet, how do you acquire our values? It is through what we fill our mind with that has direct and intensely powerful influence over us. What controls our mind, controls us: our values and actions.
The branches grow from the trunk of the tree. The trunk represents our mind. So how can we be intentional with our mind? We can make conscience decisions of where to spend our time and what will enter our mind. The mind is like a battle field and every strategic soldier does three things: identifies the enemy, understands the battle ground, and fights. There are three enemies every Christian has: the World, the sin nature, and Satan. Our battle ground is our mind:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
-2 Corinthians 10:3-5
-2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Although it may be hard to do at times, we must do battle. We are faced with choices all the time, things like should I watch this movie, listen to this song, sleep in instead of spending time with God, and so on and so forth. So we should be filling our mind with things that are God honoring.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. - Philippians 4:8
Those things that will produce kingdom values are the spiritual disciplines we often classify as the those things "good Christians" do. These are the roots of our tree and are things like devotionals, going to Church, fasting, prayer, worship, etc. But the roots are not the end, they have a purpose. Roots are for the soil, to absorb nutrients and water. If the water is the Word of God then the soil is our relationship with God.
So if it all begins with the soil we extend our roots into then we must make sure it is rich and life giving. Everything about my Christian life is about my relationship with God. Every aspect of our Christianity must be relational. Some examples are:
- having a relational faith (it is a personal trust, "I know whom I have believed")
- having relational prayer (conversational, "I talk to who I love")
- having relational quiet times ("I spend time with who I love")
- having a relational view of sin: not a view of "I messed up again" (self centered) but a view of a brokenhearted God ("I don't want to hurt who I love")
1. Nominal= Christian in name only
2. Traditional= Christian by involvement with Church (Churchianity)
3. Habitual= Christian by doing "Christian" things (following a formula)
4. Theoretical= Christian by love for God's Word but it remains just theory, no application
5. Personal= Christian by a loving relationship with God, walking with Him
As Christians our first priority is to love God and our ultimate purpose is to be used by Him. This is the Christian life as a tree which bears fruit. Don't forget that the fruit is never intended for the tree. When you bear fruit it is for the benefit of others, both Christian and not.
I really love this analogy and God taught me a new way to look at spiritual growth. He also gave me a tearful night when I spoke to one of the girls about Satan. It wasn't as though I never realized it before, but it just struck me: God is heart broken, hurt... God, my God doesn't deserve to be hurt, especially by me! I love how God reveals himself at the most unexpected times. So, MYC was a great week in more ways than one.
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