As we saw on Sunday, The Holy Spirit has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), but growing in life and godliness is a long process that takes a lot of hard work at the heart-level.
Most of us are too impatient to wait that long, too lazy to work that hard, and too concerned about what’s on the outside rather than what’s on the inside, because that’s easier to deal with. So we tend to find substitutes for true Holy Spirit growth.
Substitutes like Bible Study. You know that little buzz you get sometimes? That warm tingling down your spine when you learn some new interpretation of a verse you’ve been reading your whole life? When you learn some new historical insight that completely changes the way you think about a passage that you thought you understood? That’s the Holy Spirit opening the eyes of your heart to the Word. The disciples on the road to Emmaus experienced that when Jesus explained the Old Testament to them – it says their hearts were burning within them.
But the point of that burning is to get you to change, and many Christians don’t really want to do that. They just like the buzz. They’re like the Athenians in Acts 17, who “would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” They’re not growing, they’re just addicted to the buzz they get from more knowledge.
Another substitute for true Holy Spirit growth could be mysticism. Experientialism. Some people had a powerful experience when they first came to Christ, or at a prayer retreat, or at a certain church, and they keep trying to relive that emotional high. They skip from church to church, from concert to concert, from retreat to retreat, trying to get it back. They’ll feel it for a while, but then it will start to die down, and they’ll be on to the next thing. They’re not growing, they’re just addicted to the buzz that comes from super-spiritual experiences.
Another substitute could be community. Some people get into a small group, and it’s the first time they ever experienced a real Christian family. They love the time they get to hang out with people. They love the barbecues, the game nights, the quadruple-dates. They feel alive and connected like they never have before.
But then people move away, or they get busy with kids. The gang can’t do as much as it did before. And these people start losing motivation to even be part of the community. They haven’t been growing, they’ve just been part of a social club. They’re addicted to the buzz of relationships.
Now, all of these substitutes can be good things. I would love it if everyone in our church was studying the Bible all the time, and looking for deep experiences with God, and developing family relationships in the church. But all those things are means to an end. They’re tools the Spirit uses in the long, hard process of helping us grow in heart-level godliness, they’re not the end in themselves.
According to Peter, anyone who’s just settling for these substitutes is “so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:9). You’ve forgotten the gospel. You’ve forgotten your new identity. You’ve forgotten the Holy Spirit. Therefore, “Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” (2 Peter 1:10).