04 - Staying Spiritually Refreshed

The pot hole of spiritual friendlessness is an all to common one in the modern church. The friendless person has realised the importance of a personal relationship with God, but turned their faith into a wholly private endeavour. The friendless person is the bitter person who perhaps has had wrong done by them, but not learnt to forgive. Similarly the friendless person may be afraid of sharing themselves with others because they are ashamed of the past or their own sin.

The Bible teaches something very different from this, we are called as regenerated Christians to be 'living stones' part of the living Temple of God. 1 Peter 2 gives us a good insight into this idea...Peter exhorts us in the first three verses to grow spiritually, that we might 'crave spiritual milk.' Similarly that we may 'rid ourselves malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander or every kind.'

How do we do this? Peter immediately goes onto say in verse 5...'you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.' To grow spiritually and to rid ourselves of slander, malice and hypocrisy, is to realise you are part of a royal priesthood, a Holy Temple...and that Holy Temple is our lives as the body of Christ.

1 John proves says...'but if we are living in the light, as God's in the light, the we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all Sin.' (1 John 1:7). Furthermore John reminds us of Jesus' commandment to love one another (1 John 2:7 - 8) and goes onto say, 'Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not causes other to stumble. But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness' (1 John 2:10 - 11). As a body of Christ let us live in the light of Jesus Christ, not causing one another to stumble but building one another up and encouraging one another in the faith. Let us learn to love the church and the body of believers, that we may grow spiritually, and that we may grow in love for one another also. To love one another is to love God, not to do so is to live unrighteously and to deny God ( 1 John 3:10).

We must learn to love the body, build up the body, encourage the body, protect the body and serve the body.