Christian Growth Is NOT ALWAYS GOING UP!

God's plan is very different from your plan

There is the statement, "God's ways are not our ways." which is taught in Isaiah 55:8.  We want a smooth path, God doesn't want a smooth path and He has His reasons.  In fact, God even gives allowance for a Christian to fall down but He doesn't leave the Christian fallen.  God's plan for the believer is not always going up but it goes up and down, up and down.  You cannot deny how God Himself had given a plan for sanctification.

1 Peter 1:7 calls that the very trial of faith is more precious than gold or anything corruptible.  James 1:7 talks about how the trial of faith is a purification process.  So why are there trials?  I would attribute to why trials exist is because Christians are still sinners.  Although they have been saved, they have been redeemed, they have been sanctified but they are still sinners.  God has His reasons to why He doesn't make Christians sinlessly perfect.  Instead, He has chosen for a long and difficult path in the way towards the finish line which He gives His grace for the believer to endure.

So what happens during trials?  I would discuss the very thing about the sinful nature of man.  Okay I'm saved but wait, I'm not sinless?  I can say that the flesh was not 100% nailed on the cross but daily, I am nailing it and there is a time when I stop nailing it, God will chastise me and make me nail the flesh to the cross again.  I still suffer from temptation and sin.  Trials themselves serve as a very huge purification against sin because we sin daily.  Though a Christian may not live like the rest of the world, they are still sinners.  I have observed how Christians can still stumble into sin.  But God is very mindful towards His own as Hebrews 12:5-7 says that Christians who sin are due for chastising so they become better.

Christian growth can best be compared to a line graph that goes up and down, up and down.  If you remember Peter, we see all his downward slopes like when he attempted to walk on water and then he got up again by simply putting his faith in Jesus.  Peter's life is an example that a Christian's life is never always about going up.  While it's normal for a true believer to feel guilt about their sin and wish they never did it, they should not fret and mope around with it.  Instead, they can be assured by God through chastising and trials to bring them back on track.

Now the good tree and the rotten tree are two natures of man.  A fruit tree does not always bear fruit as it must go through a cycle.  The good gardener knows how to make sure that the fruits will bloom all the more which involves pruning and checking the tree's condition.  God Himself always checks on the spiritual welfare of the believer and if He finds them not well, He takes every loving measure to bring a Christian back on track.  That's how loving God is to those who are forever His.  He will not let them walk the path of ruin but walk to the path of righteousness because they are saved.

I can also observe how more often than not, Christian devotion is not always full.  Even the best of Christians will still fail.  God wants to bring the Christian up again so He uses trials and persecutions.  It's very easy to forget God when your path is smooth but easy to kneel in prayer when God Himself is sending the pain of persecution towards the believer.  Persecution can also help assure the Christian that they are indeed saved like when they survive through it or end up choosing Christ instead of their very own comfort.  Persecution also helps purify the Christian's inner well-being, make them less worldly and bear more fruit.  God indeed has different plans than the Christian.