Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

CHRISTIAN LIFE could be summed up in three groups: The Knowing, The Loving, The Living. These three groups cover three stages of development, a metamorphosis of sorts. We will consider here the three developmental stages of a butterfly for our examples. Like a butterfly, you can’t have full maturity without going through all three stages, the same goes for spiritual living, although with spiritual living you can stay locked in a stage and never advance to the next level.

THE KNOWING:

THE BEGINNING STAGE –  THE CATERPILLAR

Your spiritual life begins at salvation, when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection, and you are repentant of your sins. With your heart, and in your own way, ask Jesus to be your Savior. At this point you have gone from death to spiritual life and have a new life in Christ, what Christians call being born again or being saved. You now are in a relationship with Christ–God the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

Like that egg that became a caterpillar and now has an appetite, in this beginning stage you feed and feed, take in and take in, you consume the nourishment you crave and need in your spiritual life. One area builds on another:

1. You Believe in Christ
2. You Feed on Scripture and Spiritual material
3. You Grow Spiritually

What happens in the knowing of Christ is an apprehending of a body of new knowledge and spiritual experiences as in acquiring, receiving, impressions, becoming and so forth. You have a new identity in Christ; it’s not something you take on but simply are. Christ lives in you. He is your hope.

To the unbeliever, the belief of a believer doesn’t make any sense. They don’t understand the inner transformation the believer has undergone. The way of faith is a deep, penetrating, life-changing, redemptive journey.

• God loves-those who follow him KNOW his love.
• God forgives-those who follow him KNOW his forgiveness.
• God enlivens the soul-those who follow him KNOW his quickening as beloved new creatures.

Real spiritual life has its beginnings in faith intermixed with belief that says, I believe, truly believe in God and his Son, the crucified, risen, Jesus Christ, and have placed my trust in him. This belief travels from the mind to the heart where one’s belief connects with soul and being. This knowledge becomes part of their spiritual understanding and also spiritual being.

THE KNOWING goes two ways: Human and Divine: The believer is “knowing” more and more in his or her spiritual life. The believer is being “known” by his or her spiritual Father, Son, and Spirit in increasing ways. The relationship is forming into a “living” relationship. Knowing and being known are essentials being developed in this stage. Prayer is a vital part of this.

In conclusion, this is the “In Christ” stage. The individual is redeemed and changed. I would call this a time of “head knowledge,” where they are learning and constructing their biblically sound spiritual roots. (It involves the heart too) He or she is learning to pray, learning to study God’s Word, learning how to live a righteous life, and developing their spiritual walk to become a healthy, well-versed, spiritual Christian.

There are additional markers of faith within this stage but they will not be addressed here.

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Stage 2– THE LOVING: The Second Stage of Spiritual Life

Photo Credit: Maggie Wernet, Unsplash

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