What Kris Kringle Teaches Us about Spiritual Growth
My favorite Christmas special is “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” There is a scene where the Winter Warlock is explaining to Kris Kringle that he is a mean and despicable creature at heart. He then comments on how it is so difficult to really change. In response Kris Kringle laughs and says that changing from bad to good is as easy as taking your first step. He then starts singing, “Just put one foot in front of the other, and soon you’ll be walking across the floor…”
The words of Kris Kringle are profoundly true and apply to our spiritual growth. It is difficult to grow spiritually, especially after we have been spiritually stagnant for a long period of time. The good news is, difficult does not mean impossible. We can experience the spiritual growth we desire. To do so however, we must take that first step. In practical terms, the first step to achieving ongoing spiritual growth is to practice our righteousness by faith every day.
Practicing our righteousness by faith means at no point in the day drawing any amount of righteousness or approval of God from any action. In our thought process, our good actions cannot make us feel more righteous and our bad actions cannot make us feel less righteous. This is a hard thing to do. It runs counter to the way the world works, which says we are approved based on our works. I am convinced most people feel God likes them more when they are good and likes them less when they are bad. This perception of our relationship with God significantly hampers spiritual growth.
When we go to church, do we feel God approves of us more than if we sleep in and miss church? If we give money to our church, do we think God approves of us more? If we give nothing, do we think God approves of us less? Do we pray or read the Bible to gain God’s approval?
These practices will short-circuit our spiritual growth because in our mind they will place us on a performance standard with God. We cannot experience spiritual growth while on a performance standard with God. The only way to avoid this performance standard is to embrace our righteousness by faith. Remember, our spiritual growth is built upon the foundation of our righteousness by faith not righteousness through works.
When the Apostle Paul taught the Christians in Galatia, he told them their salvation was based on faith alone. After he moved on to continue his missionary journey, the church began to stray from this teaching. They began to move back towards the idea of obtaining God’s approval by works.
Paul found out about this and wrote to the church. His words were at times very strong. He called them foolish, and asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit by observing the laws of God, or by believing in faith what they had heard? Again, he called them foolish and asked why, after beginning with the Spirit, were they now trying to attain their goal by human effort.
Then, he asked them rhetorically if they had suffered for nothing (Galatians 3:1-4). Paul’s point is that moving from gaining your righteousness by faith to trying to gain your righteousness by works is a very serious thing. It is going two steps forward and then three steps backward in your relationship with God.
My experience is that many Christians intellectually assent to their righteousness by faith, and then practically seek to gain their righteousness from God through the things they do or do not do during their everyday life. When they perform good spiritual actions or avoid bad spiritual ones, they feel good about how they perceive God feels about them. When they perform bad spiritual actions, they feel terrible about how they perceive God feels about them. This may describe how you live your life.
The problem with living life this way is that it usually results in tremendous guilt and uncertainty about the state of one’s relationship with God. Ultimately, our relationship with God becomes a roller coaster of performance rituals where true spiritual growth is lost in the grind of guilt and human effort. This is not the way that God intends you to live in relationship with Him.
Practicing righteousness by faith means reminding yourself every day that your righteousness is by faith and faith alone. It means that when those feelings of guilt creep in, you put on the brakes and remind yourself that your faith is not a result of your performance. What you know to be true is that you are completely righteous by faith and faith alone. Therefore, there can be no guilt. You cannot be guilty and righteous at the same time. If you are righteous by faith, you are not guilty of sin in God’s eyes.
