Seven Passions: Intentional Spiritual Growth

The third core passion found in the first church and exhibited through us as we live as Revolutionaries is Intentional Spiritual Growth.

The Church in Jerusalem endeavored to learn more about the Christian faith and employ the principles of Jesus' teaching. Believers exhibited a remarkable attitude toward life and people and acknowledged the presence of the supernatural in their everyday adventures. They placed their faith at the center of their lives and derived their sense of meaning, purpose, and direction from their connection to God and His commands. (p23 - emphasis mine)

I think the key to at least my thinking about this is found in the part that I emphasized above. I grow spiritual in my relationship with God when my faith is at the center of my life. But a big question that seems to circle over our heads at times is what that really means. How can we think of that practically?

We really need to take the word faith in the complete biblical context. That means we can't just allow ourselves to believe that it means simply "belief". Reading through the book of James I am reminded that our faith involves the action that comes from our belief. I like the way James 2:26 is rendered in the Message:

The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

With this in mind we can begin to see more clearly what it looks like to have faith at the center of our lives. Our foundational beliefs as well as our actions are rooted in Christ. Everything we do, and think for that matter, radiates from our faith. As the earth revolves around the sun, we revolve around The Son! And because of this we grow, we develop...we are transformed.

Finally, we can't for a moment presume that this transformation is going to occur accidentally. We can't place responsibility for it on the shoulders of ministers, missionaries, family, or friends. Of course all of these people can help but ultimately it's my responsibility. As we take that responsibility seriously and ensure daily that we are living a life of faith that is when we are truly blessed with this sense of meaning, purpose, and direction (aka the abundant life).