Are You Using Your Spiritual Resources?

Remember the commercial that ran several years ago that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane crashed and left him stranded on a desert island for years?

In the commercial, a man, who resembles the bedraggled Hanks. is also a FedEx employee who is rescued and takes a package to a suburban home.

When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, “Thank you.”

But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, “If I may ask, what was in that package after all?”

She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, “Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds.”

Of course, the irony is obvious. In a similar way, we have the resources we need for personal growth, deeper devotion, and greater spirituality. The apostle Peter expressed it in these words:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” 2 Pet. 1:3).

If we believe the Bible, God has given us all we need spiritually and religiously. We’ve been given “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” The little word “all” says a lot. There is nothing else. There is no future revelation. No direct operation of the Holy Spirit apart from the counsels of His Word. And no “signs” that lead us in another direction away from the apostles’ doctrine.

Further affirming this truth is Paul’s affirmation in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Note these 5 provisions in Scripture.

• The Scripture shows you what is right.
• The Scripture shows you what is wrong.
• The Scripture helps you get right.
• The Scripture helps you stay right.
• The Scripture equips you for every righteous work.

But what does the Scripture tell us? In addition to the scripture itself, what resources are at our disposal? What’s in the package?

Be advised that the scriptural focus of our growth, development and improvement as a disciple, is not physical or material, it is spiritual. Hence the Bible speaks of…

• Spiritual things. 1 Cor. 2:13
• Spiritual people. 1 Cor 3:1
• Spiritual seed. 1 Cor. 9:11
• Spiritual sustenance. 1 Cor. 10:3
• Spiritual gifts. Rom 1:11
• Spiritual blessings. Eph. 1:4
• Spiritual songs. Eph. 5:10
• Spiritual body. 1 Cor 15:44
  Spiritual warfare. Eph. 6:12
• Spiritual understanding. Col. 1:9
• Spiritual House. Pet. 2:9
• Spiritual sacrifice. 1 Pet. 2:5
• Spiritual Rock. 1 Cor 10:4

Our resources to grow are the spiritual blessings of prayer, fellowship, worship, and the people God has put in our lives to encourage, edify and enlarge our understanding, insight, and commitment to “the things of God,” as Jesus put it to Peter.

Furthermore, we grow more spiritually minded as we exercise our spiritual gifts, engage in the spiritual fight of faith, and feed on the many spiritual resources available today. With so much access at our finger tips through technology, YouTube videos, church web pages, blogs, books on kindle, podcasts, and much more, there is no excuse for any Christian to be stranded, alone, and spiritually malnourished.

Begin by opening the package. Get into the Word. Use the resources available to you.

Finally, through the process keep this thought in mind. “Spiritual growth is not about becoming somebody. It’s about becoming more like Jesus.”

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman