Arrived
Life in the spirit is progressive, consistently moving toward the infinite God, and yet our Christian culture seems to rely on the limited knowledge that we have already gained and says, “I have arrived.”
It would seem that Matthew 15:6 fits this scenario perfectly, when Jesus says, “You have made the word of God of no effect by your tradition.”
The definition of social culture is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations; the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. (Merriam-Webster, 2012)
Every culture has a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize it as an institution or organization and our current Christian culture is no different. It has quite blatantly been characterized as weak, hypocritical, and judgmental and these assumptions of the world would be hard to argue. It is clear that Christian culture has developed a strong moral view and traditional belief and yet has not maintained pace with the growth and maturing of the Spirit of God and as a result has become stale, stagnant, and without power.
We as believers must press beyond the status quo of the Christian culture and pursue God through prayer, studying His word, and seeking to be led by His Spirit. Since God is truly ALL KNOWING, ALL POWERFUL, LIMITLESS, AND ALL ENCOMPASSING it would be safe to say that the knowledge of Him should be EVER GROWING in our lives. God is not changing in the sense of movable because God is clear, “…I [am] the LORD, I change not; “(Malachi 3:6 KJV). He is, however LIMITLESS and has depths of understanding that have never been seen. “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1Cr 2:9 KJV) But the next verse is clear that we CAN know by His Spirit.
So in today’s Christian culture, the believer must be in strong pursuit of truth; searching for life in the word of God and always seeking deeper understanding. Not being engulfed in the Christian culture halting his journey toward the LIMITLESS GOD for the comfort of familiarity, but instead venturing beyond Christian culture in pursuit of life in the Spirit. Jesus told Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 NASB) Jesus also, marveled at a teacher of the Law not understanding such a basic thing as this!
Seeking God in humility through His word beyond that which is comfortable is vital to live a life in the by the Spirit, and grow in the wisdom and knowledge of the LORD.