Growing Pains

By Brooke Momblow

  “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”  2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT

 My NIV Bible says, “through them you may participate in the divine nature”. We are meant to share or participate in the divine nature of God, to be like and think like him by the divine power of the Holy Spirit inside of us. Our lives are joined with God in love, thoughts, surrender, obedience, service to others, and testifying about Jesus to the world.

 We are not called to remove ourselves from interacting with the world and spend all of our time praying. On the flip side, we are not to be consumed by ceaseless activity and service. We cannot give what we don’t possess. Spending time in prayer and communion with God through his word is vitally important. It is empowering. This is about being deeply formed into a person who thinks and acts like Jesus. These times of refreshing, learning from, and experiencing the Holy Spirit aren’t just for us personally in our individual lives, we are meant to share who we are becoming with others.

“Deeply formed mission is first about who we are becoming before what we are doing. It is fundamentally about becoming a particular person and offering that to the world. This kind of mission is not just about activity; it’s about being Christ for another. The quality of our presence is our mission. When you read the Bible, you’ll see again and again that God doesn’t call perfect people.”  Rich Villodas

Recently I was talking with a woman I didn’t know. She began to cry and tell me about the difficult circumstances that had come upon her. Her heart was bruised and mine broke. As I prayed for her in my mind while continuing to converse with her, I kept thinking, “God, I don’t have anything to give her. There isn’t anything I can say or do to ease her grief or help her situation.” 

After she left I went about the rest of my business for the morning.  When I got in my car to go home she was still on my mind.  I sat in my car and started the engine when it suddenly occurred to me that I had not offered to pray with the woman. I had prayed for her, but praying with her was something tangible I could have offered. She might have said no thanks, but I hadn’t thought to ask. 

Later that weekend I had a dream that disturbed me. The meaning wasn’t clear so I began to pray for the interpretation and to journal my thoughts and prayers.  Something about the dream caused me to remember the crying woman again. In that moment a story from Acts 3 came to mind.  Peter said to a lame man who begged for money, “silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you”. Peter had the Life of Christ to give. While it wasn’t the interpretation for the dream, I did get an overwhelming sense of the greatness of what I do have to offer!  What I have is Life itself.

This wasn’t a moment of condemnation, but a moment of reminding by the Holy Spirit.  With humility I bowed in repentance for looking to myself to fill the need. Then I gave thanks for such a sweet but powerful reminder of what I have to offer and Whom to rely on to provide.

These are growing pains in formation. Sometimes it means recognizing what isn’t like Christ in us.  It can also mean asking God what he would have us do now in light of the Spirit’s revelation to us.  (Self-berating or condemnation doesn’t bring about the change God desires, it only keeps us stuck on ourselves and what isn’t like Christ.)

 *Remember, we have been given everything we need for a godly life-  

Let’s ask God to show us how to use what we’ve been given and how to apply the knowledge we have of Jesus to our daily living.        

                                    “O God, the King eternal,

 whose light divides the day from the night

 and turns the shadow of death into the morning:

Drive far from us all wrong desires,

 incline our hearts to keep your law,

and guide our feet into the way of peace;

that, having done your will with cheerfulness during the day,

 we may, when night comes,

rejoice to give you thanks;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The Collect for Purity, Benediction

 “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Romans