Avoiding A Spiritual Implosion

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 2:1

It was early in the morning of March 28th 2009 that a loud series of explosions rang out through Charleston WV as the old historic Building 82 of the once widespread Union Carbide Chemical plant came crashing down. The building was a towering giant of 10+ stories and had a double jutted wing along with a penthouse atop it. The building was the home of the offices for the once largest chemical foundry in the world. After years of disuse and a gradual reclaiming project the owner's signed its death warrant. Traces of the former chemical empire such as a small train switching yard with a rust covered steam locomotive, a glass block deco style bus depot and underground passage, and chemical bunkers and huge boilers were all cleared out within a year. It was a sad day to see that magnificent giant tumble, though most people thought it "cool." I used to pass it every day going to my job. For weeks demolition crews began gutting it to an empty shell, prepping it for explosive charges that would weaken its remaining superstructure and cause it to collapse on itself...thus the term "implosion."

Well all that sentiment is fine and dandy, so what, what does it mean? To me, seeing that shell of a building fall into a cloud of dust reminds me of what can potentially happen in the Christian's life when spiritual neglect rots away at the core of our beings.

When we stray from God, His Word, fellowship, praise, etc we set the stage for degeneration in our selves that paints a disastrous picture to others, ourselves and our Savior. Can such a state really materialize in the life of a Christian? Yes it can and it does every day. However, taking heed and placing value on our spiritual state can avoid such catastrophes. Below, we will look at the stages of degeneration that leads to implosion, and we will notice that God can rebuild a life, though it is far better to keep building on the sure foundation He puts within us.

The first sign of decay comes from a lack of interest.
All of us get bored with something. Eternity and the living for it should never be one of them. When we have a lack of interest, I liken it to the large office building pictured. Gradually over the years there is a ho hum lack of necessity for going on with the daily operations of spirit filled life, i.e. Bible reading, prayer, worship, attendance. At first it looks as if we are taking a slight vacation or rest, but later on as we pay less and less attention we find out that God has ceasing became a high priority in life. The fire in the heart has steadily been lowering down to a flicker. When this happens our faith dwindles, we don't see God working and wonder if He really is in control. People we used to serve now are thought of less often, giving is down, no joy to speak of, cynicism and apathy sets in. Every point of future degradation in our lives has its roots in lack of interest.

The second sign of decay comes from the gradual laying off and shutting down spiritually vital areas.
Think of a large office building like the one pictured. In it's day all the floors were a bussle with the sounds of paperwork, conversations, running up and down the halls, deadlines to meet, the typewriters going full speed, etc. Every day the workers filled the necessary roles of a growing vital institution. Then over the years, one department gets closed, another department gets consolidated and one by one, once busy floors now turn off the lights and never see another person in action. Gradually, whole sections of the building are now shut down and only a few floors near the bottom are occupied by a skeleton staff. Sounds sad? For the Christian undergoing the process of change leading to implosion, this is precisely what happens. There would be no need for concern in the body of Christ if all the "floors" are busy and occupied. Missions department vibrant. Children's ministries vibrant, Visitation, Choir, Hospitality, all these departments slowly shutting down. When apathy sets in and disinterest reigns, things that once seemed important to you, areas of the heart, are now being closed and sectioned off.
When this happens our hearts begin to be seriously hardened. What is alive and well is selfishness. Selfishness has deemed a restructuring of your spiritual heart and the price is your witness and testimony. Pretty soon, you forget all the once busy and vibrant areas that once were true of you.

The third sign of decay is a inward rotting of once strong supports.
As areas in a building or house see no use or upkeep, they decay and lose strength. Once strong in faith, your decayed heart can no longer bear the words of Christ it used to. Oh we still love to hear of the true wonderful love of Christ (praise the Lord for that) but when conviction and repentance is preached, the load bearing supports collapse and we get bitter even hostile to the Lord and the Preacher or teacher. We no longer care what sin has done to us. We remember how we used to keep a short account with God, but now there is no resistance of sin and no strong witness for Christ. What is really happening on the inside is that we are dying. We are in the process of becoming nothing more than an imposing shell of great Christianity, with nothing inside to show, its all getting to be a facade at this stage, as one by one the infrastructure and interior comes apart.

The final stage of decay is a collapse of spiritual structure from a weight of sin and destructive charges.
When the day came for old Building 82 collapsed it did so because there was a lot of prep work to rig dynamite charges to the last remaining structural supports that held the shell of brick in place. Engineers worked to strategically place the series of charges that they knew would impact the most negatively. Once ignited, the first set of charges finished weakening what was left of the supports, then the final blast blew apart the joints and the weight of its own body collapsed on top of itself, thus implosion. The last step in our downward spiral is implosion. No our bodies don't blow themselves up, yet, if we neglect vital spiritual areas, our physical man suffers and in many cases we do DIE. However, just as bad, we live and all around us collapses. Our minds can turn so carnal that we fail to reason God's Truth from worldliness. Our hearts gets so hard that God is no longer welcome. Our inner man is so vexed that we have no light or witness in the world. Spiritual implosion is the collapse of all things spiritual in us. It is hitting rock bottom spiritually as we are in our greatest despair, our greatest guilt and anguish, and no life is seemingly in us.

Question. Is there any hope for a believer when they have traversed downward this far?

The Scripture nowhere indicates that a Christian can sin so far as to fall out of God's protective hands. As a matter of fact, the Bible speaks more of restoration than it does of the chance of being unforgivable. In fact the Apostle Paul says boldly there is no condemnation to those who are IN Christ Jesus. The love of God is so large a sphere that we cannot find its boundaries! This does not give us license to sin. Many think that they can sin willfully and it will be okay. The mark of a true Christian is not have a open willing desire to sin at all, though he or she does. Temptations are great, and we do fall into them sometimes willingly, but a constant lifestyle of sin with no remorse or no desire to be made right with God indicates strongly that the person doesn't really have Christ in them.

So, YES there is much hope! BUT it is far better to take necessary measures to grow spiritually and avoid implosion rather than rebuild from it.

Do you feel like there is a growing degradation in your spiritual walk? Maybe you are already at the shut down stage? Maybe implosion has happened. Wherever you are in life, ask God to restore you to a right relationship with Him. He will do so, but it won't happen overnight...but it will happen.

Heavenly Father, thank You that we are not cut off from You even in the darkest hour of failures. Help us to maintain our spiritual lives before You. Our desire ought to be to please You and serve You as best we can for as long as we can. Help us Lord, we are feeble. In Your Name, Amen.