Nothing worthwhile in life comes easily or suddenly. The significant things in life always come at a cost over a considerable period of time. This does not constitute an easy message for an instantaneous society that wants everything ‘now.’ This truth is particularly important when it comes to an understanding of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is costly for it involves, as the Apostle Paul suggests, putting off, getting rid of and putting to death those things pertaining to the old way of life (Col. 3). He uses a straightforward illustration saying that we need to take off the garments of the old life and put on the garments in the new life. Thus, the old practices of life are to be stripped away, and the new practices indicative of life in Christ must be put on so that we are ‘being renewed in knowledge according to the image of [our] creator’ (Col 3:10). The process that Paul is referring to is not a one-off event; rather it is an ongoing process, a daily process, that we must participate in every day of our lives on this side of eternity. It is at the same time costly and time-consuming instead of instant and easy, but the result is that we are being conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.
Comments