Stabilizing Your Christian Walk

I remember the first time I ever rode a roller coaster. I was eight years old and enjoying my first trip to Disney World. Thinking Space Mountain was just another slow scenic ride I volunteered to take the front seat by myself. You can imagine my horror as we whipped around the first corner into utter darkness and spent countless moments tossing about in what felt like a giant clothes dryer. I didn't know whether I should scream, get sick, or prepare to die (I think I did a little of each!). When I realized I had survived, I told myself I would never ride another roller coaster as long as I lived. However, since that experience I have ridden coasters again.

We face similar experiences in our spiritual life. Just about the time we relax and think all is well, we find ourselves being tossed about on a most unsettling spiritual ride. Why is our walk with God sometimes filled with ups and downs, and what can we do to help stabilize it?

Spiritual bumps are often caused by impurity in our life. Sin and our fleshly desires serve as obstacles and distractions. If we want a smooth ride, we are going to have to remove the obstacles. I had a friend in college who was well known on campus for his huge collection of CDs, tapes, and movies. Unfortunately, many of them were filled with vulgarity and sin because he bought them before he became a Christian. One day he realized that their bad influence was hindering him from serving the Lord as he should. So he invited me over, and together we destroyed hundreds of dollars worth of his collection. We too should remove the sinful influences from our life. Those influences come in many different forms: evil companions (1 Cor. 15:33), movies, music, Internet sites, games, and much more. The truth is we don't have control over everything, like co-workers or billboards, and we can't live in a bubble, but we should clean up what we can.

In order for our spiritual life to operate smoothly, we must also fill it with godliness. If new oil is added to a car without the dirty oil first being drained, the new oil will become polluted. Furthermore, if the dirty oil is drained from a car but clean oil is not added, the engine will seize up and die. In the same way, our spiritual life must be filled with purity and godliness lest it die. Our spiritual diets should consist of healthy doses of study (2 Tim. 2:15), meditation (1 Tim. 4:15), and prayer (1 Thess. 5:17). Our faith will become sick and weak if not fed regularly. It is also helpful to be surrounded by positive influences. Just as evil company can corrupt good morals, good company can strengthen them. Most importantly, we should develop a strong love for the Lord. Our goal shouldn't be to cross off a spiritual checklist to earn God's favor, but rather to love what He loves, hate what He hates, and see as He sees. Then we can truly be filled with godliness.

The most difficult task may not be in establishing purity, but rather in maintaining it. I have managed to pull myself out of plenty of spiritual ruts. The trick has always been to keep myself from falling right back in. Why is it so difficult to resist a spiritual relapse?

Part of the problem is with the influence of our surroundings. There are circumstances that we have little or no control over which may act as temptations or negative influences, such as situations found at work or in commercials. Even when we try to avoid it we are always being hit with something. Since we are constantly attacked and weakened, we must voluntarily strengthen our spiritual muscles. Our spiritual muscle must remain stronger, or else we will lose to the flesh.

I believe the larger portion of the problem cannot be blamed on that which is outside, but instead on that which is inside. We wage war against our own worldly desires every day. There is a tug-of-war taking place between our spiritual will and our fleshly desires. ""For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members"" (Rom. 7:22-23). In other words, ""my mind is willing, but my flesh is weak."" I'm sure we have all wished our flesh would start to cooperate. Not even the apostles, or Jesus, were immune to temptations from their own bodies. Paul said, ""Wretched man that I am. Who will set me free from this body of death?"" (Rom. 7:24) Unfortunately, freedom from this will only come when we depart from these bodies. In the mean time, we will have to fight as hard as they did.

It is frustrating when we know we want to do right and yet keep experiencing spiritual ups and downs. But there is hope. Although we have to put up with these struggles, we have strength to overcome them in Christ (1 Cor. 10:13). If we persevere to the end, we will have an eternity of rest from our labors in heaven.