Read
I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
Isaiah 43:25
Reflect
My brother had some very cool jobs when he was in the Navy. One of them required him to travel around the world — literally — and it carried him into some very interesting locations. He couldn’t tell me much about what he did (no, he wouldn’t have had to kill me), but he did tell me an interesting fact that I couldn’t believe at first, so I looked it up for myself and found it to be absolutely true.
He said that when he went to Korea, it was immediately clear that North Koreans were visibly shorter and lighter than their South Korean counterparts. Statistically, it amounts to an average of about three inches shorter, and it starts to happen in early childhood. South Korean children are, on average, one to two inches taller than North Korean children.
Why, you might ask? There’s no genetic difference between North and South Koreans, so researchers have come to another conclusion. The bottom line is that North Koreans are chronically malnourished, and this leads to stunted growth starting when they’re young. Children especially need proper nutrition in order to grow and develop properly, and North Koreans simply aren’t getting enough food. Meanwhile, below the 38th parallel (the line between North and South Korea), South Korea has flourished economically, and its people are getting taller and stronger. So why is North Korea lacking the food that its people needs?
True, North Korea is a Communist country, but so is China, and the Chinese people aren’t suffering physically in the same way as the North Koreans. In 1978, China recognized that its economic policies were holding the country back and it started allowing its people to prosper financially, even though the social and religious restrictions sadly remained in place. North Korea, meanwhile, is locked in the failures of past, stubbornly refusing to make the changes needed to help its people. Thus, the people are essentially slaves to a system that has repeatedly failed them. And since they are powerless to help themselves, they go to bed hungry most nights.
Too many Christians spiritually resemble the plight of the North Koreans. They are stunted in their spiritual growth for at least a couple of reasons. First, they’re just not getting enough quality nourishment. Christians should pray continuously, but so many Christians pray only now and then, and usually when there’s a huge need. Our lives are supposed to be fueled by an active prayer life (Ephesians 6:18) — after all, how can we get to know someone if we rarely talk to them?
On top of that, most Bibles in this country are probably very dusty. The Word of God isn’t supposed to just be read on Sundays — or, as is the case for many people who say they’re Christians, on Christmas and Easter. The Bible should be read almost every day and it should guide our thoughts, words and actions. (Joshua 1:8)
These two areas are the ones that most people talk about when discussing spiritual growth, but there’s at least one more that goes overlooked. Just as the North Koreans are locked in the failures of the past, so are many Christians. Many people have difficulty forgiving others, but at least as many people struggle with forgiving even themselves. And if you’re locked in self-hatred for the things you’ve done wrong you’re simply not going to grow and mature in your faith. As I’ve said before, it’s hard to move ahead when you’re constantly looking behind. This is especially true if you’ve already asked the Lord to forgive you for these things. If He’s forgiven your sins, then why are you still holding on to them as if he hasn’t?
Today, make certain you move past your spiritual 38th parallel. Ensure that your spiritual diet is rich in prayer that you’re feeding regularly on the Word of God. But at the same time, be sure to commit the sins of the past to the Lord. If you haven’t asked for forgiveness, today is the day to take care of that. But if you have, don’t go and dig up the bones of the sins that God has already forgiven. Let the past stay in the past and move ahead into what the Lord has in store for you today and in the days to come.
Reflection copyright © 2021 Doug DeBolt and Charles Fulton.
