Getting Unstuck

Every once in awhile in life, we get stuck spiritually. Sometimes, we are aware that we are stuck, but we do not know how to get moving again. Other times, our walk with God seems to be generally okay, but we have a nagging sense that things aren’t quite right, but we can’t pinpoint the exact problem. Then at times, we don’t even realize we are stuck. We have spent so long stalled out in a place that is unhealthy for us but that we have grown comfortable in. We lose interest in going forward, and we don’t even realize we stopped growing ages ago.

This is such a contrast to how many of us start out in our Christian walk. In the beginning, we turn to God for everything. We want to learn and grow so we seek Him regularly. We are so young in our faith that we depend on Him for everything.

What exactly leads us to getting stuck? Over time, a change can occur in our lives. Though we may have matured some in our faith, and have a solid foundation of knowledge about Christian things, we stop seeking God as much as we used to. We still want to walk with Him, but we depend less on Him and start relying on ourselves more and more. We begin trusting our own judgment and perspective about things more than God’s. We rely more on our own strength to get through hard times and do not seek the Lord’s strength to hold us up. Instead of praying for the small things our lives, we lift up only the big things that we really need God’s help with.

As a result of depending more on ourselves we grow further from God, and end up living our day-to-day life disconnected from Him. Instead of answering to Him, we start answer to ourselves. We begin to indulge attitudes and develop habits in our daily life that are unhealthy and ungodly. There is a noticeable lack of peace and joy within us. And our daily life grows more difficult, not because bad things are happening to us, but because we are relying on our self and all our flawed human wisdom to navigate through life instead of relying on God.

At this point, disillusionment often sets in. It starts to feel like God has let us down. We aren’t sure where He is or how He is working in our lives. Our prayers feel like they are bouncing off the ceiling and that God is not particularly interested in us anymore.

So how do we get unstuck in our spiritual lives? A great step is to start shifting our view of God. As Christians, we have a tendency to view God as a God of law, instead of a God of grace. A God of law says, “Do it yourself. Pull it together and then we will have a better relationship.” We believe we must get ourselves in shape so as to be worthy of a closer relationship with God.

So how should we view God? We should think of God as a God of grace, which is the opposite of the law. And what exactly is grace? Grace is unmerited favor from God that cannot be earned. A God of grace says to us “I will help you in all things. I will help you walk with me.” He desires good for us and is on our side. He wants to guide, teach, and mold us instead of us trying to figure it out on our own.

But we must also remember who we are in Christ in order to really understand grace. 2 Corinthians 5:21 states “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” When Jesus was crucified on the cross, our sin was poured out on Him. When we come to faith in Christ, He pours into us His righteousness. There is nothing we can do to earn that righteousness or be worthy of it. It is God bestowing unmerited favor upon us, and it is given freely as a gift out of God’s desire to reconcile us to Himself. God sees Christ’s righteousness in us instead of our sin when we accept Christ as our Savior.

In other words, it is like the student who wants to get an A in a subject in which God is the teacher. Under the law, the student must work and earn his A and any favor he might win from the teacher. Under grace, we no longer have to work to earn an A from God. He freely grants us an A and his favor because of Christ’s work on the cross and our belief in Him. Christ does the work for us. There is nothing we can do to get a higher grade or increase God’s favor toward us. It is a finished and fully completed work by Christ.

Walking in grace will help free us from any ruts in our spiritual life. We will experience a new freedom knowing that God is our help and hope, and that He is the source of all good things. Of course, we are not to take advantage of God’s grace by disobeying his commands and indulge in sin. Instead, out of our gratitude to God for His great grace our desire to serve and obey Him will increase and we will again move forward and grow in our walk with God.

By Taylor Martin Wise, Copyright 2009