Drop the Prop: Sin, Imaginary Friends and Spiritual Growth

I recently moved to a bayside town. I traded my two wheels for a prop and I've been chugging around the bay. I must admit the first few trips were a bit touch and go - will we make it home? Will this boat stay afloat? Will the engine start? - it was a relief to idle up to the jetty and throw a rope around something solid.

There's that thought, tinged with relief: I made it. 

I reckon it’s a bit like that with my spiritual life at times. 

Saved though I am, at times I feel like I’m chugging through life wondering if the boat is going to get me home. 

Will I lose the battle to “renew my mind” today? Will I succumb to the temptations around me? Will I treat people with less love and dignity that I should?

Yes, yes some days I will. And so will you. We all fall short of the new creation we are in Christ (Rom 3:23).

It’s not that we’re bad people, it’s just that God has started something in us that won’t be finished until we meet him face to face (1 Cor 13:9), when he gives us a new body of flesh and spirit that is fully redeemed, without brokenness or blemish (1 Cor 15:35-58).

He has that body now for you, stored up in heaven, awaiting the final consummation of his plan to bring about the new creation, a reuniting of heaven and earth at which point you will shrug off your current body like a snake sheds its skin and don the new one like a robe of light and glory (1 Cor 15:51).

Big idea. Pretty nuts really. Stranger than science fiction. I get why the trolls taunt us about our imaginary friend. 

Problem is, I don't think God and his plan for the world, the way the Bible presents it, is very imaginable. 

If it was, we've probably created him, not the other way around. 

If it's not stranger than science fiction, it probably is science fiction.

I reckon if we imagined him, we'd have imagined him different. Tamer. More accommodating perhaps. 

A god who reverses the calorie intake between ice-cream and brussell sprouts. Why not?

Now there's a god who'll get some worship. Hallelujah! (scoffs down a bowl of cookies and cream).

But back to the making-it-to-the-jetty bit. 

We may not be perfect, but we should be being perfected. We should see some progress. 

“Yeah but I can’t stop sinning so maybe I’m not saved?” A frequent one, that. Does it resonate?

Here’s my two-bob's worth:

1) If you're not struggling with/haven't struggled with sin, you either have too narrow a view of sin or you haven't started resisting it yet.

If it’s the former, read the sermon on the mount again, if it’s the latter, start actually trying to resist sin in your life, then we'll talk.

2) If you can sin and not feel fazed by it, you’re probably not yet where you need to be with God. Turn to him with all your heart and pray for Jesus to become real to you.

3) On the other hand, if you sin and feel crap about it, you’re probably good with God.

It means the Holy Spirit is grieving over your sin and so are you. This is a good thing: you are in step with the Spirit. 

You're being trained to overcome it. 

Ponder these wise words and store them up in your heart: For Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to a salvation without regret... (2 Cor 7:10). 

The more you love God, the more you'll hate sin. 

The more you hate sin, the more you'll love God. 

The real God, that is, not an imaginary one. 

If you love sin and love God, he probably really is your imaginary friend. 

We talk about Spiritual maturity, but the term is misleading. 

Physical maturity refers to a state of being fully grown, a state of having arrived. 

Spiritual maturity is more about a state of progress. 

The question is not “have I arrived?” but “am I moving towards God?”. 

Draw near to God and he’ll draw near to you (Jam 4:8). (I absolutely guarantee it. He's waiting for you too. he wants you too with all his heart!)

Spiritual maturity is like heading toward the jetty. You’ve got to have your engine on, otherwise the tide will blow you off course. 

The other day I pulled my boat up on the beach for a while to enjoy some lunch and a swim with my family. We struggled to get it off the shore again, as the tide kept blowing us back onto the sand. We had to get far enough away to fire up the outboard and drop the propeller in.

It’s the same with God, if you’re not actively pursuing him, actively aligning your will to his, you'll drift. 

The currents of culture and doubt and fear and failure will sweep you back to shore. 

You've got to get your outboard on and drop the prop in the water: Pray, worship, read the Word, confess, hope in God. 

Right now, in this moment, you’re either moving toward him or away from him, heading for the jetty or drifting with the tide.

There's no such thing as sitting still.

It's time to drop the prop.

It's time to head home.