Going Through A Phase?
We’ve all heard it: “He’s just going through a phase.” We probably didn’t appreciate it, especially when this remark was made about us when we were striving to make a needed change. We have recently mentioned ‘New Years Resolutions’, and some of us have likely begun one. Hopefully, as we have only advanced a few weeks into this year, we’ve not yet abandoned this year’s commitment. If so, some may say of us: “They weren’t serious, they were just going through a phase”.
Have we considered that life itself is a series of phases and stages? Are we not all in one ‘stage’ or another in life? Surely, we are, or we are not alive. If some have recently entered life while others have lived lengthy lives and are headed toward that ‘long home’, are they not in different ‘stages’? Yes, they are. We may readily recognize this in the above example but fail to do so in other areas of life or even spiritually.
A phase by definition is: “a distinct period or stage in a series of events or a process of change or development”. Therefore, a phase is not necessarily bad, nor is it a negative thing. Often, when this phrase is used about someone, it is stated with negative undertones as if it is just a “passing fancy”. This might be acceptable in areas such as architecture, fashion, hobbies, or trends of other kinds, but a ‘passing fancy’ has no place in spirituality.
We are all at different ‘stages’ in our physical and spiritual lives. We did not begin our lives, physically or spiritually at the same time. None are at exactly at the same level of development or maturity. There are a number of reasons why this is. We all started at different points in time. We all learn in different ways and at different speeds. Some put a great deal of effort into studying so they can learn, while others take a more relaxed approach. This is why some children of God are struggling spiritually. Is this not what the Spirit had the prophet write: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”? (Hos. 4:6)
Bible study should never be a ‘phase’ in our lives but should be a constant. Unless we study God’s Word as we should, we cannot have Bible knowledge. Without Bible knowledge, we cannot be pleasing to God. Keeping the Laws and Commandments of God was not a ‘phase’ of Abraham’s life, it was his life, and it impacted the life of his son. In Gen. 26:4, the Promise God made to His “friend” Abraham, that his seed would be as the stars of heaven was repeated to Isaac. In Gen. 26:5 we see why. Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Isaac was expected to know and to follow the ‘Commandments of God” also.
As God separated out a people, (Israel) through which to bring His Son into the world, and so fulfill His Promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God gave a Law that applied only to these people. God looked over, provided for, guided, and instructed these people as they journeyed from Egypt to the Promised land. They were expected to know and follow God’s Commands every day of their journey. In Exo. 16:28 when some went out to gather manna on the Sabbath, the Lord questioned Moses - And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
We know that God had Commanded Israel. He also instructed as to how these Commandments were to be known as well as how His people were to remember them. In Deut 6:4-7 we find divine direction for God’s people of the Old Testament. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
After the death of Moses, Joshua was appointed by God to lead Israel. God Commanded Joshua in Josh. 1:7-8 how to lead Israel and how to be successful in them receiving what God had Promised. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Joshua knew God’s Word, followed God’s Word and was successful as Israel’s leader and as a servant of God. It was not a ’phase’, but a way of life.
Likewise, in this dispensation of time, (the New Testament age), we are not to allow our Bible study to be a ‘phase’. Some make an annual ‘resolution’ to study the Bible more yet fail to do so. In 2Tim. 2:15 Timothy was admonished: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” This also applies to us today. We cannot ‘know’ God’s Word, nor can we be ‘approved of God’ if our study is some sort of ‘phase’. Our Bible study needs to become a “way of life.
Get serious, let’s study God’s Word daily, rightly divide it (handle it aright), and follow it to be pleasing to God and prepare for eternity.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ.
