Progress in the Christian Life
You may stop the hands of the clock, but time will go on just the same. True progress can never be permanently arrested. When Nicholas I became Tsar of Russia, he attempted to shut off his country from all intercourse with the outside world. A historian summarized the results of the Tsar's attitude: "Russians were forbidden to travel abroad. Nicholas referred to the Moscow University as a 'den of wolves,' and restricted the number of students to three hundred." Censors struck out of papers such phrases as "forces of nature" and "movements of minds." Nicholas himself was enraged at finding the word "progress" used in a report of one of his ministers and demanded its deletion from all future official documents. But progress could not thus be staved off.
There are people who wish to block spiritual progress in their own lives. There are many church members who act as if - and say so openly - they do not want to go any deeper into spiritual things than their present position. One might sometimes wonder if such people have really been born again. God has given definite statements concerning spiritual advance; there is no place in His program for standstill. We can at least say that those who do not go forward are not in the center of God's will and are thus out of fellowship with Him. The French have a well-known proverb, Qui ne s'avance pas recule, which means, "Whoever does not go forward goes backward." It is the same in the Father's dealings with His children.
Put these four verses together:
"He which hath begun a good work in you will perfect (Asv) it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).
"When I begin I will also make an end" (1 Sam. 3:12).
"My loving kindness will I not utterly take away from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail" (Ps. 89:33).
"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me" (Ps. 138:8).
These promises, and others like them, are God's certain guarantee that He is not going to let us remain still for long. If we need it, He will chastise us to bring us to the place of true progress in Himself according to His good, agreeable, and perfect will. He has promised to supply all our needs, even the need of discipline, when He sees it to be necessary.
You cannot strike "progress" out of God's dealings with a soul.
1. How do we confront those fellow Christians who deny spiritual progress?
2. Is contending for the truth in a situation like that apologetics? What makes these types of situations apologetical?
3. Where does this change and progress come from?
4. Must we rely on our own incentive? If so, where does the incentive to change come from, do we have that desire?
