spiritual maturity

Embracing a daily spiritual practice…

/ Will N. / Leave a comment

Embracing daily spiritual practices should not be seen as an attempt to earn God’s grace or to increase His love for us- in Christ, we already have those blessings in abundance and no action on our part can merit more of God’s saving grace or bountiful gifts.

Spiritual practices should instead be centered in our desire to know God more fully and our desire to then seek His will for our lives more faithfully.

Realizing this difference changes our perspective.

When we are occasionally tired and fail to pray or busy and fail to study, we are not afraid of God’s wrath at our weakness, but we instead miss our time spent in His presence.

We are so connected to Him that to not spend time in devotion causes a loneliness in us and a longing hunger to renew our commitment to Him.

I want to grow in intimacy with God not out of some passionless sense of duty or fear, but out of a genuine desire to spend time and communion with my Father and my Friend.

When we reach this point relationally with God, devotion becomes a conversation we long for rather than a hurried errand we feel pressured to fit into our already packed day. We will long to meet the Lord in the morning and to come into our quietness with Him each night.

Rather than driving us toward isolation, such private times serve to deepen our relationship not only with God but with other like-minded believers. As we maintain daily intimacy with God, our times of gathered worship with others are not just a religious chore to be checked off but a centering of our lives celebrated in community with fellow Christ followers. When we find greater joy in the daily sharing of time with God, the strength of that personal relationship should stir within us a longing for the collective worship we find in His church.

As we mature, each believer will recognize the need for different approaches and rhythms in private devotional life, yet all of us can come to love God more deeply and see His will for us more perfectly through faithfully spending time each day in His presence. When we love being with Him and make growing our relationship with God a priority, we are better equipped to take the inner strength gained in solitary devotion into the daily tasks of life and to become more closely attuned to the spiritual needs of others.

Coffeeshops & redeeming the time…

/ Will N. / Leave a comment

For Jarrod Bailey

At times, I overhear some pretty intense conversations in coffeeshops.

Some are romantic, some are financial, and, of course, some are religious.

With each passing year, I realize more and more that now in my late thirties, I am just starting to truly learn to listen with less judgment and more grace. At times, I hear echoes of my own old bravado and the absolute certainty so present in younger voices- a boldness that I now recognize so often hides pain, shame, and fear.

We tend to get louder when our own arguments start to cave in around us.

Assurance seldom shouts.

Now when I hear arguments I might have tried to win 20 years ago or may have rolled my eyes at ten years ago, I just seek to listen and try not to interfere too much with the process of growth in others.

My faith is central to me, but life is teaching me- mostly through its trials and my own errors- that presence and patience and the passage of time often prove far more essential to lasting clarity than my knee-jerk sharing of self-pious platitudes or one-size-fits-all certainties. Growth and maturity almost always seem to take time, experience, and some good old-fashioned failure.

I can’t endure that process for anyone else.

Neither can you.

At this point in my life, it’s becoming less and less about winning arguments or calling out every perceived act of arrogance or error, and it’s becoming more and more about showing up faithfully, listening patiently, and loving fully.

It’s that simple and it’s that hard- and, as a friend of mine would say, it’s amazing and it’s awesome.

I can do it, and you can too.

There’s always a seat at the table, and the coffee’s always on.