Symptom 1 : Striving to Earn Spiritual Maturity
The first symptom of trying to follow Jesus is believing that spiritual growth and spiritual maturity can be earned . In many ways , people with this approach to following Jesus act as if heaven has a spiritual bank that stores credit in our accounts whenever we do something “ spiritual ” and deducts from our accounts whenever we sin . The core misconception is that we can earn spiritual credit with God — either forgiveness or favor — through our own efforts .
Symptom 2 : Experiencing Spiritual Guilt
Constantly feeling guilty is another symptom of trying to be a faithful follower of Jesus . The more we focus on our spiritual scorecards — and on the spiritual scorecards of everyone around us — the more we ’ re aware of falling short .
Symptom 3 : Developing Spiritual Arrogance
Another common symptom of trying to live the Christian life is developing a level of arrogance when it comes to our spirituality . Whether or not we admit it to ourselves , we start to believe we ’ re ahead of others in terms of being a good Christian — almost as if we view life as a spiritual marathon . We think we ’ re in the top 10 percent of performers . That makes us feel good , and we like that feeling .
Do you see the danger in these approaches ? Do you see how trying to live for Jesus is just another offshoot of religion and spiritual performance as a way of pleasing God ?
The Antidote for Trying
The bad news is that many Christians today are trying so hard to live the Christian life that they ’ ve lost sight of Jesus — and they don ’ t even know it .
The good news is that Jesus gave us the antidote to trying . Look what Jesus said to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:5 : “ Therefore remember from where you have fallen , and repent and do the deeds you did at first .” These three specific commands make up Jesus ’ s antidote :
1 . Remember . Jesus told the Ephesians to “ remember from where you have fallen .” Do you remember what it was like when you first followed Jesus ? You couldn ’ t get enough of Him . He changed your world . But over time , activity replaces intimacy , and we lose that personal experience with our Savior . So Jesus told us to remember where we used to be .
2 . Repent . Jesus specifically told the Ephesians to “ repent .” Repentance is a change of mind about our sin that produces a change of action concerning our sin . When we fall into “ trying ,” we must get honest with God about our poor choices — about substituting doing for being . We must repent of what we are .
3 . Return . When Jesus said , “ Do the deeds you did at first ,” He wasn ’ t referring to more spiritual activity , to trying harder . The Ephesians had left their first love , meaning Jesus . The solution was to return to abiding in Jesus — to return to that relationship . The “ deeds ” they did at first were the steps they ’ d taken when they first accepted Jesus ’ s call to follow Him .
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