Category: spiritual immaturity

The Roller-Coaster of Life #2

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

“God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9 KJV).

In this roller coaster called “life,” who is truly “faithful?”

Using secular historical data, we can say Paul first arrived in Corinth circa A.D. 50–51. According to Roman records, that was Gallio’s brief term as deputy or governor of Achaia or southern Greece (see Acts 18:12). It was around this period of Acts chapter 18 that Paul wins the Corinthians to the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. He teaches them the Word of God for nearly two years (verses 11,18).

Eventually, he moves on to Ephesus (western Turkey) before concluding his second apostolic journey by returning to Antioch of Syria (verses 19-22). As he launches his third apostolic journey in verse 23, he re-visits Ephesus, wherein he resides for three years (all of chapter 19; see Acts 20:17,31). It would have been during the opening verse of Acts chapter 20, his final days in Ephesus, that he composed 1 Corinthians (see 1 Corinthians 16:8,9). In other words, when he wrote 1 Corinthians, as many as six years could have passed since he first preached the Gospel of Grace to them (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Stated another way, the Corinthians have been members of the Church the Body of Christ for at least five years. Alas, as we study 1 Corinthians, it is apparent they have not grown and developed into mature Bible believers. Such prolonged exposure to sound doctrine should have brought their thoughts and lives much further than where they are currently situated. Observe chapter 3, verses 1-3: “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual [led by the Spirit of God], but as unto carnal [fleshly], even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” The Corinthians have not continued in the edification process, so they are malnourished, spiritual babies who still cannot tolerate solid spiritual food….















































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Spiritual Calligraphy #10

Thursday, May 16, 2024

“And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:3 KJV).

What can today’s Scripture teach us about spiritual calligraphy?

It is no secret the Corinthians were the worldliest, most carnal (fleshly) believers in the entire canon of Scripture. They thought and acted like people who were lost and on their merry way to Hell! What makes it all the more ridiculous is that Paul had spent some two years teaching them the Gospel of Grace and grace living (see Acts 18:11,18)! One of their primary sins was abusing spiritual gifts—especially speaking in tongues. Three chapters of 1 Corinthians are therefore devoted to spiritual gifts (read chapters 12–14).

Consider 1 Corinthians 14:21-23: “In the law it is written [Isaiah 28:11,12], With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad [crazy, insane, lunatic]?”

The Corinthian assembly of Christians met in a building that shared a wall with the Jewish synagogue of Corinth. Read Acts 18:1-8, noting that “joined hard” in verse 7 references the common wall between them. Since the Corinthian saints were abusing the spiritual gift of tongues by engaging in gibberish or ecstatic utterances (just like the pagans in their worship services!), that spiritual gift was not serving its purpose of reaching unsaved Jews next-door as the Spirit of God had intended! It was the spirit of man trying to counterfeit God’s work, and even lost Jews could see the silliness! Instead of attracting unsaved Israel to Paul’s ministry and message, such frivolity was repelling them, keeping them antagonistic toward the Lord Jesus Christ whom those spiritual gifts should have glorified.

Exalting human “wisdom,” Corinth abounded with spiritual cacography, ugly handwriting, hideous words and deeds….

Redeem the Year!

Monday, January 1, 2024

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17 KJV).

What great advice for 2024!

Despite 2,000 years of Bible schools and seminaries, 2,000 years of a completed Bible canon, 2,000 years of Bible reading in churches, several decades of “Christian” television and radio, and a decade-plus of widespread use of “Christian” websites, how sad that Bible ignorance is still quite extensive (it is as if God never gave His Word to start with!).

Frankly, the Church the Body of Christ needs to wake up! The verse previous to today’s Scripture says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (verse 14). Paul, loosely quoting Isaiah 60:1, reminded us that the spiritual ignorance that gripped Israel in Isaiah’s day seized Christians in his day—and it still grips Christians 20 centuries later. Feel-good sermons, enjoyable “worship” services, and rites, rituals, and ceremonies will NOT solve this problem—they exacerbate it!

“[God] will have all men to be saved…” (1 Timothy 2:4a). Do you want this New Year to count for God’s glory? First, you need to get saved from sins and hell! You need to become a Christian by trusting in and relying on Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). That is only part of God’s will for you, for 1 Timothy 2:4b continues, “[God] will have all men… to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Now, God’s will for your Christian life is daily, personal Bible study to renew your mind, so your faith in those verses can cause God to work in your life—it will be His life, thus making you “perfect [spiritually mature], throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Today’s Scripture urges us to buy back the time Satan has robbed from God (time created for God’s glory). By faith, we need to make that time glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by applying His Word, particularly Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon, to our lives. Have a good year in Christ! 🙂

You can download our free “One-Year Bible Reading Schedule.”

See our archived Bible Q&A: “What Scriptural advice can you give me for the New Year?”

‘Twas the Sunday Night Before Christmas

Sunday, December 24, 2023

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15 KJV).

Let us not be so sidetracked by religion and commercialization that we miss the reason for the Christmas Season….

During the Christmas Season, we wonder how many people are visiting church for the second time this year (the other being Easter Sunday). How many will be going to church today—the Sunday before Christmas—just to feel “religious” or “holy?” How many really know Jesus Christ? For many, visiting a church building is just an obligation; they do not have faith in God’s Word and have no interest in God’s Word.

We do not go to church to “feel closer to God,” for if we have trusted in Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we cannot be any closer to God than we already are in Christ! “[Before salvation, we were] without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh [close to God] by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12,13).

Furthermore, we do not go to church in order to get God’s blessings, for God has already given us “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). We go to church, not because we are keeping Israel’s Sabbath day, since we are not obligated to observe Israel’s religious days (Colossians 2:16). We go to church to fellowship with like-minded believers and hear sound doctrine… more than twice a year, by the way.

In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy that whenever he would assemble with fellow Christians, certain behavior was acceptable and other types of behavior were not (described throughout the epistle of 1 Timothy). Recall that when the Bible refers to “the church,” it refers to the body of believers, not the physical building in which they meet.

As we get opportunities, let us make an effort to reach these dear souls misled by all the vain religious tradition and Christmas commercialization, and may we tell them of the wonderful Christ Jesus whose name is found in Christmas!

*Based on the poem “‘Twas the Sunday Night Before Christmas.”

In Every Thing Give Thanks

Thursday, November 23, 2023

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV).

Dear saints, take a moment this Thanksgiving to learn a valuable lesson from the Holy Scriptures!

God wants “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3,4). To be “saved” here means you have been rescued from the penalty of sin (hell and the lake of fire), and that you have a home in heaven, because you have trusted the death, shed blood, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as sufficient payment for your sins. To “come unto the knowledge of the truth” is when a person who has trusted Christ, begins to understand why God saved him or her, and how God will use him or her for His glory. Although soul salvation is instantaneous, spiritual maturity is a life-long process (that is especially true regarding handling difficulties, the grace way!).

It is human nature to avoid difficulties and stress, to flee them, rather than confront them. This self-preservation is advantageous, particularly in “life or death” situations. However, running from troubling circumstances is not the way God has designed our life in Christ to function. Today’s Scripture says, “In every thing give thanks,” not “For every thing give thanks.” We do not thank God for our troubles; we thank God while we are enduring those troubles. This is tough, I know, but it takes time for us to learn it. Even the Apostle Paul had to learn this.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

Be thankful in every thing. God’s grace is sufficient for you, dear saint, in all of life’s circumstances. When you learn this, you are “[coming] unto the knowledge of the truth.”

*Excerpted from our Thanksgiving 2012 Bible study with the same name. That study can be read here or watched here.

You may also see, “What are our spiritual blessings in Christ?”

Know Your Apostle

Sunday, October 1, 2023

“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:…” (Romans 11:13 KJV).

Dear friend, would you like to know your Apostle?

Read Hebrews 5:11-14. Though they possessed the Hebrew Scriptures for over 1,500 years (Romans 3:1,2), ancient Israel did not reach spiritual maturity because they did not follow God’s pattern for development. They should have progressed from a diet of spiritual “milk” to “strong meat,” growing from spiritual “babes” to “them that are of full age” (adults). The writer of Hebrews laments how although Israel should be able to teach the Word of God to the world, stunted growth requires Israel must first be taught again the very basics. They had not listened to God’s spokesman to them (especially Moses’ ministry)!

As concerning us, Paul is our apostle (today’s Scripture), the Lord Jesus Christ’s “sent one” or spokesman to us (Acts 26:16-18). If we reject Christ’s messenger to us, we refuse Christ Himself, and we thus refuse Father God who sent Christ as His messenger (see Matthew 10:40; Luke 10:16; John 13:20). Also consider the Holy Spirit’s instructions through Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 and 1 Corinthians 14:37,38.

Paul is the “wise masterbuilder” (1 Corinthians 3:9-11) for this “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1,2). His inspired writings of Romans through Philemon are the blueprints for God’s current building project. The foundation is Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery (1 Corinthians 3:10,11; cf. Romans 16:25), which is Christ as presented in the Pauline epistles, Romans through Philemon. Unless we build on Christ according to mystery, it is not what God is doing today—and it is “wood, hay, stubble” (worthless). Returning to the Jesus Christ of prophecy (outside of Paul’s ministry) is to preach and use “another Jesus,” “another spirit,” and “another gospel” (see 2 Corinthians 11:3,4).

Read Romans 16:25,26. Father God will “stablish” (stabilize) us spiritually according to: (1) Paul’s Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3,4), (2) the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon), and (3) the Scriptures of the prophets (all of the Bible in light of Pauline revelation). Knowing God’s messenger to us, we know His will for us. Knowing God’s will for us, we can now have faith in it, and accomplish it with Him!

A Lost Love #6

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Romans 10:1 KJV).

Just the other day, an aged friend in ministry for several years now, shared with me the news of one of his recent undertakings. Let us see how his sentiments and efforts match those of Paul in today’s Scripture.

Emotions are untrustworthy because they can be easily manipulated. They change according to the situation. Yet, most unfortunately, because of sin, they tend to govern our lives by forming the basis for our decisions. Those choices might turn out to be our worst mistakes ever, but they “felt” right or acceptable when we made them. As opposed to relying on subjective data (personal opinions or feelings), we need an objective standard (facts). It is impossible to eliminate our emotions, but the renewed mind can overpower them.

We take sound Bible doctrine and think and live according to it, regardless of emotions (!). Our life and ministry should be founded on faith in Bible truth we hear or read (clear, faithful words of God applicable to our circumstances). This is the only safe path: “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1,2). A mature Christian thinks a specific way and conducts his or her life according to the facts of Bible truth. Here is the proper course, for God originally designed mankind (prior to sin and Adam’s fall) to use the mind rather than the heart (emotions) to make choices. The alternative is to be a babe in Christ or a lost person, depending on feelings or hunches to evaluate life….

Living With Others in Mind #8

Monday, July 3, 2023

“For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:23,24 KJV).

In what way was Paul self-centered—in what way was he self-sacrificing?

It was by the Lord’s design that Paul stayed on planet Earth as long as he did, for Paul’s earthly sojourn would not conclude until he had written his last epistle, preached his last sermon, and visited his last city. Paul would be a living, breathing example of Christ’s grace life manifested in human flesh… for the advantage of the Philippians and other saints. Therefore, Paul resolved to seek their wellbeing instead of his own. Essentially, it would be summed up as: “Yes, to be with Christ is far better with myself in mind, but it is more needful to stay here with you in mind.”

How sad it is that, despite the Bible’s clear explanation, ignorance flourishes! Christians will ask, “Why has the Lord not yet come? Why are we still here? What is God’s will for me?” While we want to be gentle, we must be frank too: these are truly dumb questions. If we are still in doubt about such basic matters, it is a testament that our pastors, teachers, and churches have failed us miserably. We really have no idea what the Christian life is all about. It is just as unknown to us as if we had no Bible at all.

Dear friend in Christ, if you have not already been in the predicament of today’s Scripture, you will surely be in it one day. You need to have that right answer before you face the question and wonder how to handle it. Read Philippians 1:21-26. Instead of having a pity party for ourselves, whining, “I want to go on to Heaven and leave this wretched place!,” we can remember, “But God wants me here to manifest Christ’s life here, to reach others for His glory here, so any attendant afflictions are light and momentary in the grand scheme of things.” (See 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.) It really is that simple, and we do not need to complicate it with endless speculations and worthless denominations. Mature grace living is living with others in mind! 🙂

Living With Others in Mind #7

Sunday, July 2, 2023

“For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:23,24 KJV).

In what way was Paul self-centered—in what way was he self-sacrificing?

“Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth” (1 Corinthians 10:24). Such an admonition was particularly useful in Corinth, where spiritual childishness and selfishness were running ever so rampant. Instead of “What can I get out of the Christian life to profit and please myself?,” the mature saint inquires, “How can Christ’s life in and through me benefit others?”

When addressing the believers in Philippi, Paul offered the same spiritual counsel: “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Philippians 2:4). He then mentioned the Lord Jesus Christ’s example of self-sacrifice in verses 5-8, which you should re-read. If someone were to object, “But Brother Paul, Jesus Christ was the perfect God-Man who had no sin problem whereas we still struggle with sinful flesh, so for us to ‘put others before self’ is easier said than done!” The Holy Spirit through Paul had anticipated and already countered that complaint in the opening chapter of Philippi.

The two verses subsequent to today’s Scripture are as follows: “[25] And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; [26] That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.” Putting others ahead of self is exactly what Paul himself decided to do—and did—with the Philippians! When faced with the choice of going to be with the Lord in Heaven and escaping his dire circumstances on Earth, or staying and ministering to the Philippians (whom he had hoped to see in-person once released from Rome); the preference of sinful flesh gave way to the renewed mind! “I shall abide and continue with you all for your [!] furtherance [!] and [!] joy [!] of [!] faith [!].” Paul sought their spiritual profit, their spiritual wellbeing, for like their Lord, he also was living with others in mind….

Living With Others in Mind #6

Saturday, July 1, 2023

“For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:23,24 KJV).

In what way was Paul self-centered—in what way was he self-sacrificing?

Re-read today’s Scripture in context: “[19] For I know that this shall turn to my salvation [from hopelessness, discouragement] through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, [20] According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. [21] For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. [22] But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. [23] For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: [24] Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.”

Instead of traveling abroad and preaching the Gospel of Grace in foreign lands, Paul was now under house arrest, possibly facing death. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot [apply wisdom/wits] not” (verses 21,22). To continue in his physical body was to remain restricted in Rome. Now, today’s Scripture: “For I am in a strait betwixt two [compressed, in a quandary or dilemma], having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better….” Paul knew being with Christ in Heaven was infinitesimally more enjoyable than a Roman confinement. This was self-centeredness because he wanted to escape his earthly problems. Still, he recognized the better option was self-sacrifice, for, “…Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” Paul’s stay on Earth would be more profitable for these saints. Let us see what he ultimately chose….