God has been teaching me some lessons over the past few weeks … not really new ones, just reinforcing the lessons He’s been teaching me for years that I’m only slowly learning. I’ve always thought that in our spiritual journeys, it’s like we are on a pendulum … we learn something and we swing way over to one side … then we see something else and we swing way over to the other side. I’m often reminded by Brent that the key to healthy spiritual growth is balance. It really is clear from what Jesus teaches that it how He taught and lived.
So I was way over to one side for most of my life … that everything-is-black-or-white side. Then I began a shift. It was kind of slow, but I think I went too far to the other side …. “grace to everyone” … “we’re all trying” … “don’t expect too much”… almost to the point of “don’t expect anything from anyone – it’s too much pressure”.
Here’s where I am today … lost people need God’s grace. How can they live the Jesus’ way without Jesus? They can’t. BUT, Christians should grow! I want to rise to the challenge myself in my spiritual walk. I want sisters to “exhort” me to a higher place with my Lord. Spending time with lost people can make us feel pretty good about where we are spiritually… but the sad truth is that we are supposed to be in a totally different “world”, as Christ followers, where Christ reigns in us and is our source of strength to say NO to sin and its power! I think that I’ve failed some of my newer Christian friends by not challenging them to go to a higher place of discipline, obedience and holiness. Maybe it’s because I know I am struggling myself with being “subnormal” as a believer (that’s how Brent put it on Sunday).
I decided this: RiverChase Church can only be as “normal” (that’s a good thing) as the believers are “normal” who make up the church. So I ask myself: If every believer at RiverChase was the kind of Christ-follower I am, what would we look like? any different? the same? worse? I think I’m going to re-read The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. It strikes a great balance!
Unchained Melodye 
normalisboring (aka tanya t)
i really love that book. truly transformational. and if you’re guilty of not raising the bar to your “newer believer” friends, then i’m guilty of casting condemnation in their direction. i swing too far to the side of no grace due to the frustration of seeing so many still on milk. yet the truth is that they won’t grow as a result of me wringing their necks…they’ll grow as i pull up alongside them, first and foremost looking in on my own life and the fine-tuning the Lord still needs to do with just me. your post is a great reminder……
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spillqueen(aka Britt)
Let me just say my jaw is very sore from all this meat the Lord has been feeding me!! Whew!! Thanks for the post Mel. You really got me thinking!! You are right us “sisters” need to come together!!
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DEWintheblogwithCOOKA
sometimes, i’m more worried about being “nice” than i am about “encouraging” my sisters to stay the course. i don’t want to look “judgemental” so i just don’t do or say anything…yuk! doing nothing is worse than tooo much grace or tooo much condemnation. i gotta get in there (with grace, exhortation and mercy) and “shore them up” when their walk with Christ starts to crumble!thanks for the reminder! but how do i actually put it into action?
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Beth Webb
Don’t reread that book…it’s tough enough the first time. Come to think of it, maybe I should reread that book…maybe it is the condemning and “high expectation” side of myself that makes that book, one that speaks Truth so clearly, very SCARY to me!
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