Are We There Yet?

You’ve heard this question if you’ve ever traveled with kids (or impatient adults): “Are we there yet?”  We know travel is measured in distance (if you live in the east) or time (if you live in the west).  But how do we measure other things?  Athletics is measured by championships.  Investments are measured in Benjamins (Ben Franklin’s face is on the $50 bill if you’re not up on the lingo.)  The standard for actors is awards won, though they apparently now measure themselves by how many political opinions they express.  But how do we measure ourselves as Christians?  How do we determine our “spiritual score”?

If your first response is to balk at the idea of trying to measure something spiritual, I understand.  But don’t you think it makes sense to use the yardstick God provided when He shared His heart through His Word?  There are lots of passages that let us know how if we’ve “arrived” as believers.  Let’s look at a few of them:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Galatians 5:22-23

If the omnipotent Spirit of God is resident in your life as a believer, shouldn’t you be bearing the fruit associated with the Spirit?  Are these things present in your life?  All of them?  ARE YOU THERE YET?

…Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   2 Peter 1:5-8

Check your spiritual math homework.  Have you added virtue (or character) to your faith?  Look at the end of the equation – have you added love to brotherly kindness?  Did you skip any steps, because if you did, the numbers won’t add up.  One quality builds on another, yet we need them all.  ARE YOU THERE YET?

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.  Romans 12:9-13

Now that’s a tough list.  Read through it again and notice all the character qualities that should be a part of your life.  If you need a spiritual measuring tape, there it is!  ARE YOU THERE YET?

Sometimes life deals us a tough hand.  We don’t feel like we can hang on to our faith, let alone try to grow in it.  But God has a word for you even if that’s where you find yourself:

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Romans 5:3-5

This last list gives you some mile-markers to let you know if you’ve arrived as a believer, and is summarized by one of the most beautiful statements in Scripture: “Hope does not disappoint.”  Our trip through life is marked off in miles and minutes.  But our spiritual journey is measured by how much we look like Jesus.  ARE YOU THERE YET?

Jacob