Most Christians I know have felt stuck in their walk with God at one point or another. For some this lasts a month or two, but for others it can drag on for years. Why is this?
For those who have the Holy Spirit and regularly seek the Lord, it seems like growth should come more easily. Trees don’t always produce fruit as quickly as we’d like, but with the right soil and care, they do produce fruit.
It’s probably rare that a stalled spiritual life is the result of a single cause. And different people are different! But the Bible does help us ask some relevant questions.
Confidence Now
The apostle John wrote his first letter to explain how believers might have assurance of eternal life (1 John 5:13). In the middle of the letter, he discusses how to have confidence both now and when Christ returns.
One of the reasons believers can have confidence in their salvation now is objective: God has loved us and called us his children.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now (1 John 3:1-2)
John points to the facts of the gospel and the words of Jesus for this evidence. What he has written in his Gospel account is more than enough to justify these claims. The “kind of love” the Father has given stretches from a cosmic scale (”In the beginning was the Word…”) to the washing of feet, from welcoming notorious rebels to dying at the insistence of religious leaders. It’s the kind of love that cannot remain in the grave—the stone must roll away.
John also teaches that godly actions come from godly people: “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him” (1 John 2:29). “Practicing righteousness” cannot mean mere external conformity to some list of rules, as true righteousness involves desires, motives, and worship.
Confidence Later
John wants his hearers to have confidence in their salvation when Christ appears, not only in the present time.
John confesses he does not know exactly what we will be like when Christ appears, but what he can say for sure is lovely: “when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Make sure you grab onto this promise with both hands. We shall be like him. These bodies and minds of ours that are shot through with sin and shame will be transformed. The curse—which has invaded our every cell—will be no more. God is holy and glorious, and we shall share in that holiness and glory!
I’ve written a lot in the last few years about hope. My shorthand definition of biblical hope is that hope is the joyful expectation that God will keep his promises.
John does not beat around the bush—he writes to give hope: “And everyone who thus hopes…” (1 John 3:3). When John describes the promise of God to be fulfilled when Christ returns, he’s calling us to hope! Believe this promise, picture it being fulfilled, reflect on just how wonderful that fulfillment will be.
Hope is powerful, and it has natural consequences. “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). Those who hope in this way will purify themselves. Note that this requires and assumes that we understand how God is pure and how we aim for that purity.
Another word John uses for purification is abiding in Christ. And he counsels that abiding in Christ—or purifying ourselves because of our great hope—gives us confidence when he returns.
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. (1 John 2:28)
As we grow in godliness, we grow in our future confidence before Christ. By the power of the Spirit, and because we are forgiven, we will increasingly say no to sin. We will not shrink back from him in shame.
Look to His Promises
If you feel stuck in your walk with God, if you feel you’ve reached a plateau or are even losing your footing, the apostle John has a word for you. Lean into hope.
It may be that you’re not growing because you’re not hoping. The Bible doesn’t call us to focus on the future to the exclusion of the present, but our hope is clearly forward-looking.
Have you meditated on the future? Have you let your sanctified imagination loose on the idea of new bodies, a new earth, and new heavens? Have you pondered what it will be like to see God as he is? To be like him?
These are not idle daydreams; this is not a frivolous thought experiment. If you want to grow in purity, in your God-likeness, hope like this might be just what you need.