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A plant or tree that is not growing is as good as dead. A human that is not learning…

Let’s explore the connection between learning and growing spiritual muscle. I have not found any explicit connection between learning and growing, but I think you can’t have one without the other.

Philippians 1:1-30 —

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamation of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you. (v3)

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. (v6)

A magnificent insight into the apostle Paul’s mind and heart while serving time in prison for the Gospel and for following his calling at great personal cost.

Are we following our calling?

Invariably, the Bible character’s callings resulted in great struggles, opposition, hatred and not infrequently, death.

Do we press the ‘pause button’, or take ‘time-out’ from our calling when we count the cost? Do we prevaricate and claim that it is too hard to hear God’s voice? Do we engage in so many good and honourable activities that the voice of our calling is drowned out to a whisper?

Our calling test

It seems to me that Paul passed his ‘calling test’ with flying colours.

I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummelled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day.

In hard travelling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. (2 Corinthians 11:25)

We will claim that the first century AD was a hard cruel time to be alive. True. But read this passage again. I think there are some characteristics of persecution and hardships that are timeless. Bad things happen to good people; struggles with friends; betrayal by those we thought were our brothers; loneliness and so on.

Paul, having been through all that, could still say from his prison cell: Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamation of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer.

Remarkable! It seems to me that when we are in our element, we are rejoicing, so excited that we are in the centre of God’s will that we can bear anything. Notice Paul’s attention is only on the needs of others.

He breaks out into rejoicing over the Philippines but immediately goes into prayer, knowing their need of prayer. Perhaps that’s another test — how regularly are we drawn into prayer, intercessory prayer, for others?

We are a work in progress

A healthy plant does not struggle to grow if it is planted in good soil and has the right amount of water, carbon dioxide, sunlight and warmth. (Some greenhouse keepers have special carbon dioxide dispensers, as our atmosphere doesn’t yet have the optimum level for plant growth!)

Consider our own growth. What does our growth look like? Paul tells us we won’t reach our flourishing finish until the very day Christ Jesus appears. That’s a promise! However, I would like to think that my growth is on target, that it’s keeping pace with time. I want to use every day in the university of life, to maximise my growth.

When and where do we learn best?

It seems to me that learning is the critical ingredient for growth. We need to be teachable to be learning. A teachable spirit is the ideal soil for growth. It is God who started this great work in us, and He will keep at it. This suggests we need to let go and let God!

Recently, I saw this poster on a train station platform in Sydney. Brilliant! Every picture tells a story!

Most of us think that learning takes place in classrooms.

But I suggest that our best lessons are learnt in informal settings, post-school, in the university of life. Do we have a notepad in our back pocket just in case we stumble into a learning situation?

This picture depicts a group, a community. I guess we can see who the teachers are; they are out there in the wild with us. They aren’t distant, remote and unapproachable. You can easily imagine the best learning will occur as the group journey together across the landscape. There will be time for honest one-on-one discussion on the way back to the bus.

We learn best in community, in fellowship:

A fellowship is a group of people that join together for a common purpose or interest.

We all learn at different speeds and in different ways. Seeing others, get it, is an inspiration for those who find it hard. Imagin, doing all our learning alone. It would be so easy to get discouraged.

Another advantage of learning in fellowship is the team spirit. We don’t want to let the team down, so; even though we find it hard, we will give it all we’ve got. Others who see us struggling draw alongside; they reach out and give us a helping hand. (This is why so many schoolchildren struggled to maintain any learning momentum during the Covid-era online learning years.)

Let’s measure our growth of spiritual muscle

When planted in good soil, in a great fellowship. When we don’t run from challenges, and we cultivate our teachable spirit.

Then our learning produces growth. And our growth enables us to rejoice in all circumstances:

I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. (Philippians 4:11)

What a testimony!

I suggest we can measure our growth based on our level of joy in tragic, dire circumstances, and how easily and frequently we fall into intercessory prayer when we think of the needs of others.

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio.