The Dorment Periods of Life

Scripture Reading: Romans 6:11-13

January through April are usually the coldest months of the year. The air is biting. For some places the snow comes regularly, and our part of the world becomes dormant, even dead. "Old Man Winter" sets up his frosty reign. However, the spring comes upon the Earth and that which lay silent is now springing to life. What a picture of the Death and Resurrection! The Earth begins to die off in its vegetation in late October as the leaves give one last brilliant show. Then those leaves fall lifeless having no nutrients. The leaves wither and turn grey as is the color of death.
But for the trees and annual plants, this "death" is more of a dormant period, or a time where growth sleeps and does not engage itself. Out our window, the ground is cold and hard. Yet I know that beneath the ground there are a row of Gladiola bulbs and such that will at the appointed time shoot out of the ground again--just like the Resurrection!

Okay, I used the illustration of the Resurrection twice now, but its because I would like to talk to you about not bodily resurrection, but a resurrection of the spiritual appetite from a period of inactivity or disinterest. Notice that dormancy does not mean a period of rest, but a protracted period of inactivity or lifelessness that comes from an indulgence in sin or a veering away from God in some fashion.

Dormancy occurs in the believer's life when he or she has found a loss of interest in growing. This may result from unconfessed sin, an offense from another believer, depression, grief, or a lack of being spiritually fed. Many times the latter of the reasons is the culprit. It is important to note that not being spiritually fed, that is to say not being challenged or growing in the faith, is not always the fault of the church. Many people will leave a church complaining they are not growing because of the quality of preaching and other ministries lacking. Of course this has a lot to do with it, but, if you are not growing in the Lord it is a personal choice.

Too many people today are on a spiritual starvation diet. They get all the spiritual food from usually one, one hour church service a week. Now as sad as this is, the blame does not rest here. We never would just eat one meal a week, we constantly feed our bodies, yet during the week between church services, the Bible is never opened. We choose our own rate of growth. Because we for some reason do not feel Christ important enough to spend time with, we starve ourselves spiritually and wonder why we aren't any more encouraged, more faithful, more knowledgeable, more caring, and more dedicated.

Any believer who has been saved for even five years can tell you about a period where the fire of the spiritual life or the flame of faith has now gone down to embers. The same principle applies to a wood fire. Leave a fire burning without putting more wood on it, and the fire will go down and even out. The question is what happens to us in this time, what are the consequences, and how do we find new life and escape the cold gray clutches of dormancy?

First, here are the the problems of being dormant. The chief problem is discouragement. When a person is most discouraged it is due to being overly tired and not eating. When we don't exercise the privilege of studying God's Word, or at least reading it, we lose layers of faith and being to question God and begin to be vulnerable to worldly hopeless advice. As our Sprite becomes more frail then the eye of Satan gets more sinister in its stare. Satan begins to move toward us like a wolf toward weak prey. Satan knows he is not successful when the armor of God is wrapped tightly around us, but when we choose to forget Godly instruction that armor falls off. Then out of nowhere comes the Accuser shooting his arrows of doubt, fear, discouragement, and bitterness. Being too spiritually weak from lack of proper nutrition we cannot stand up and fight or even run. We wallow in the net of pity and fear. Like a body that is susceptible to disease we languish in the effects of the evil one. When certain matters like fear come upon us we get all uptight and worry. By now trusting God has become a distant memory. We are hindered in our witness. We present no reason why unbelievers should desire Christ in their life. Then we see God as imperfect, powerless, or worse not caring for our lives. When we don't physically eat we become irritable, irrational and unstable. Such descriptions are the same in our spirit.

Secondly, the resulting consequences of being dormant. The question is, "Does it seem possible for a person who is spiritually dormant to go through life this way and still go to Heaven?" Salvation is a personal seal at God's expense and strength to preserve us, it does not depend on us. However, Jesus said that people will know you're a disciple if you show forth fruit, or, actions identifying a change in your life. All true Christan's have fruit, but many times that fruit goes unharvested and rots. The chief consequence of being spiritually dormant is Spiritual Rot. Rot is the decay that comes from no attention paid to the upkeep of something. Spiritual Rot starts to turn a believer's heart away from God, questioning everything that He does and says in His Word. The believer gets cynical and irritable, unwilling to associate with other Christians. It can go so far as beginning to mock other Christians in their worship and practice.

Lastly, the escape of dormancy. Just like a vegetable left on a vine will putrify, so will a life that is not maintained by prayer, serious Bible study, and the fellowship of fellow believers. But before this can ever take place, there needs to be a movement of the heart in repentance towards God. Without the heart involved in the matter, all the rest of the acts and motions are dead. Many times God spoke of Israel in the Old Testament lamenting how they would go through all the religious motions yet the heart was somewhere else. Spiritual life is not mechanical or automated. It must be focused intently on God and His restoration. When this is achieved we must ask God to forgive us of being dormant and inactive when He called us to be the opposite. Then we must ask Him for a renewed desire to follow after Him. Then we need discipline to get back into a good routine of prayer and Bible study. Note that routine does not necessarily mean thoughtless mechanical process. Discipline is key here as in dormancy everything has lapsed. Notice too that results take time. However, building up a foundation of Spiritual activity gets stronger and stronger as the process goes on.

Do you find yourself in a period of dormancy? Does the quality of your Spiritual life seem on the decline or in decay? One of the greatest dangers is the denial of a decaying existence. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:5, a man should examine himself to see if he or she is truly in the faith. May today be a turning point in this aspect of your life.

Heavenly Father, today we acknowledge that we have been, are, or feel a propensity in becoming spiritually dormant. Lord please forgive us for our turn to selfishness and enliven us to live as You have commanded. Help us to desire Your Word and the practice of it in our daily lives and in the lives of others may it be shown from us to them. Lord we are a failing people. Help us not to go into a spiritual coma. Encourage our hearts this day O Lord and renew a right spirit within us. We thank You for loving us still. In Your Name, Amen.

The Inner Diamond

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3

If you lived in Charleston, WV before 1980 you will cognitively remember the old Diamond Department Store. The former Diamond was a seven story building downtown that employed up to about a thousand workers give or take during the holiday rush. Photos of The Diamond are rare, this is the only one I know of on the Internet. It was West Virginia's largest department store sort of reminiscent of a small scale Macy's in New York City. When you watch the classic holiday movie "Miracle On 34th Street" you sort of get the idea of what it was like. Retail fashion life in Charleston revolved around The Diamond. If you wanted to get something nice, have a big shopping trip, eat lunch, see the Christmas glitter and glamour, then The Diamond is where you went. Being from a small town, when I would go to Charleston (the big city for me) my first look at stuff like Escalators, huge clothes displays, something called a Mezzanine, elevators that had operators in them (anybody remember that??) all had its roots in that store. Kids were drawn there because the top floor was touted as "Santa Land" during Christmas. Trains, planes, whatever the toy fancy was back then could be found there. I say all that to say people were attracted to the store for what was on the inside.

We are very attracted to what we find to be genuinely inside. Actually, for an art deco style building, The Diamond wasn't immensely beautiful on the outside. It had a many small show windows, but no real defining architecture. It was big and tall, but outwardly not remarkable. This describes what we as Christians are like to many people we meet. Outwardly, we may not be the most handsome or beautiful, but folks should be attracted to us for what they find inside pouring out of us. I can't remember too many people standing outside The Diamond exclaiming how much they enjoyed shopping there, that was reserved for the inside, for there was the attraction. Granted the first things drew in outside shoppers were the things on display in the windows. In our Christian lives we need to have on display the work of Christ. That should be some of the following:

• Life that is different in attitudes and values than what the world proclaims


• A spirit that is meek towards others and serving as well


• Desire to share openly with others what Christ has done


• A peace and joy that transcends what this world has to offer


• Sense of love for fellow believers and a song of praises to God on your lips

Mankind is looking for what he or she knows is not being offered in the circles of lost people and worldly philosophies. Even though they may mock and scorn, even persecute Christians, they still know that what we have is something they want. This something is not known to them properly, so we must show them by our lives (Matthew 5:16)

Next, we as believers in Christ need to provide a welcome and friendly response to those outside the Faith. Whether you could afford to shop there or not, on a cold winter day, The Diamond was a nice place to come in and be warmed. The lunch counter upstairs served hot soup and other things to help bite the chill of the air. Christians likewise need to be hospitable to unsaved folks as well as to some of our own brethren. This sounds like a no-brainer but it is often difficult due to social upbringings, church teachings, and other formative values. I struggle with these issues as much as anyone of you do. The point is that even though we struggle, we are to be making positive progress towards hospitality. This is an area in which my church really strives in. The church even has a "Hospitality Team" that does so much to make newcomers and everyone else feel welcome. If folks look at our lives and judge Christ by our own actions, what does that say for the job evangelism is doing? The fact is we show others how we want Christ to be shown. Christ Himself does not change and conform to what we want Him to be, but to a person who knows nothing of Christ, then our image in their mind equals His image. Therefore it behooves us to be our best for this reason. Do others see your life as at the very least approachable, kind, and hospitable? Is there anything that makes them want to come to your church by what they observe its members doing?

Lastly, though whatever happens to our outward person, out inner person must not go into decline. My facts may be a bit off, but The Diamond was open from about 1903 to 1983. The building was getting harder to take care of and there was something new in town--a mall--namely the current Town Center Mall. The Town Center had a multitude of stores, more eating places, more open environment and The Diamond sort of faded into the shadows. Now a days you can drive past the old building and it looks the same as it did years ago, but inside the story is much different. The building is now completely renovated and holds nothing of its former glory. It is now State of West Virginia government offices. This sad change, in my opinion, is what happens when Christians begin to lose sight of their God, begin to fall into worldly carnality, and dabble in practices un-befitting to a believer. In fact we can let our lives stray from the Lord that we become unattractive to everyone. We no longer are a show window of what God is doing, because we don't let it be known. We no longer have an inviting spirit because there is not much in us that is cheery or lively. We don't even have much impact because we have let some other course of life hinder our testimony. Spiritual decline is rampant. It doesn't mean that we are lost all over again, but it does mean that we are not pleasing God and that we are not actively helping to advance His Kingdom. What a contrast to what He desires of us! When we see the signs of our spiritual decline we must:

• Pray for a fresh desire to please and serve God


• Ask God to forgive our selfish behavior


• Look for new ways to increase our awareness of His service

Are these things easy to do? The answer depends on how much and long we have strayed. The good news is that Christ will always take us back! Have fallen prey to decline? Ask Him to lift you out of it.

The outer Diamond building still stands, but it is what was inside, the inner Diamond, that attracted. Let's ask God to help us this week to be that inner attraction that will lead others to Himself and glorify Him.

Father thank you that you love us when we were unlovable. Thank you that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, making us better than we ever could be ourselves. Help us Lord not to lose sight of the attractiveness of Christ in our hearts and lives. Help us to reach out to people and show them directly or indirectly that there is a difference in knowing you. When our lives decline due to sin that is all around us, lovingly bring us back to the point of restoration so that we may sparkle as diamonds do. Thank you for loving us and helping us, in your Name. Amen.