Growing Spiritually

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6, ESV).

We should hunger and thirst for righteousness. This “hunger,” not religious activity or radical frenzy, defines the spiritual growth taught in the Bible.

A.W. Tozer wrote on maturing in Christ …

… many Christians in our day are lukewarm and somnolent, will not be denied by anyone with an anointed eye, but the cure is not to stir them up to a frenzy of activity. That would be but to take them out of one error and into another. What we need is a zealous hunger for God, an avid thirst after righteousness, a pain-filled longing to be Christlike and holy. We need a zeal that is loving, self-effacing, and lowly. No other kind will do.

Today, we see signs of revival, sort of a boomerang from a lifeless church infected by a liberalism that constantly found ways to deny or explain away the righteous truth of the Bible, resulting in empty church buildings with those still attending, relics of religiosity.

No wonder youth are turning to a Jesus who says …

Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life (John 4:13-14, MSG).

Floating in an ocean of salt water, what many churches proclaim as truth eventually kills. Jesus is calling us to living water.

You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. His food and drink are the best meal you’ll ever eat (Matthew 5:6).

However, as AW Tozer points out, the solution isn’t “radical activity,” which includes stringent religious deeds, radical political activism (bereft of God’s love), and even legalistic “to-dos” and “to-don’ts” for supposed spiritual growth.

Again and again — throughout the entire Bible — the image of our appetites transformed from indulging the physical to loving Jesus more than anything else, defines spiritual growth.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8, NLT).

But Jesus didn’t give an inch. “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day (John 6:53-54, MSG).

You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child (Hebrews 5:12-13).

Those who discover the keys to the Kingdom, by seeking it first and loving Jesus more than anything else, will be given all things (Matthew 6:33). What’s most important can’t be won or earned but is given freely by God’s grace.

As the Apostle Paul writes …

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns (Philippians 1:6, NLT).