Stages

Life is often times about going through different stages and hopefully navigating them well. There are stages for children and adults that can make life quite interesting and challenging. The tragedy is to get stuck in a stage or not adapting well or growing into the next stage.

There are also stages in our spiritual development with God. It begins with learning about God and seeking the truth which can lead to conversion of heart and life in Jesus Christ. We are justified (made right) by the exchange of our sin for the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ who bore the penalty of our sin on the cross. We are justified by faith alone which also includes a turning from sin. We are saved from sin and bondage to the devil and saved from selfishness and from hell. You and I are unmerited to receive salvation without God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Conversion itself is a work of God.

There are also stages in sanctification. Sanctification is the process of being Christlike practically in all of our life. Hopefully as we go through these stages we don’t slip back, but forge on. The stage can be summed up generally in three.

There is first the mercenary stage. We are for Jesus for what we can get. In this stage it is mostly about us and what God can do for us. It is similar to the childhood stage of personal development. We want to escape hell, sin, self and the devil and we are assured of heaven. We may also be focused on wanting God to bless us materially, socially and emotionally. The prosperity gospel preachers focus on this stage.

Then there is the stage of being blessed by giving to God. We are blessed when we do good. We are blessed by serving God and contributing our finances and time to building the Kingdom of God because we love Him. We know we are part of something eternal and are seeking our treasures in heaven. Some are even focused on sharing the gospel with others and living it. Some are willing to make huge sacrifices of their time energy and heart. They have become true friends of God and are blessed to be involved in “such a great salvation.” (Hebrews 2:3) They enjoy studying God’s word and spend time in prayer mostly of adoration, petition, and intercession.

The third stage is the stage of the more perfect love for God. In this stage these persons largely love God for Himself. They have understood and encountered God in His goodness and glory and love to know Him deeply and be with Him in an intimate love. They also likely have been blessed with the gift of contemplative prayer a gift far more valuable than anything this world can offer. This is a gift that few experience or seek, because of mis-understanding or a lack of learning and love. Being quite before God in prayer has become a lost art. As Austin Cooper has said in his book on the reflections on the book, The Cloud of Unknowing, “Sometimes contemplative prayer can seem like a sheer waster of time and opportunity; perhaps we feel we should be ‘saying’ our prayers, or at least ‘thinking godly thoughts.’ And St. John of the Cross reassures us when he says that this prayer can indeed seem like ‘doing nothing.” It however not about filling your mind with nothing, but on focusing on God.

God sanctifies us as we co-operate with Him in growing in grace and knowledge. This occurs in knowing Theological truth and prayer. Primarily spending time in prayer transform us to the very core of who we are. If we are not disciplined enough to make room for God in our life and spend time with God it is unlikely we will grow. We may just stagnate or go backwards.

Most Christians unfortunately are at the first stage. They are happy they are going to heaven and will escape hell and in the meantime are just putting in time and trying to have as much pleasure that is possible in this world. They care little that they will have few rewards in heaven. (Matthew 5:12; Revelation 14:13, etc.)

Thankfully there are some at the second stage but few at the third stage. Why is this? Jesus said the road would be hard. (Matthew 7:13-14) It is hard because the world wants you to conform (Romans 12:1-2), the devil resists you and the flesh is weak.

Of course, in each general stage there are variations of development and we are all in a great process with God of being transformed fully and practically into the image of God or of being Christlike. At times we may quickly go back in forth in these stages and they often overlap.

It takes courage and resolve and as Gary Thomas says in his book, Authentic Faith, “Saints often go unnoticed in the wake of a world that screams more loudly for its own heroes.”

Grow Christian grow even though some around you are good with just getting enough of Jesus to get by and still be applauded by the world. How is this honoring to God who took the form of a man and bore the insults, torture before the cross and on the cross to satisfy divine justice that we might be saved?

As Jesus said about meeting Him at the end of the world, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).