Living From Sunday 2 Sunday
Living From Sunday 2 Sunday
EP 167: Keep Moving Forward: How God Actually Views Your Consistency
What does true consistency in faith look like? Many Christians struggle with a perfectionist approach to spiritual disciplines, feeling devastated when they miss a day of Bible reading or prayer. But as Pastor B explains, God's view of consistency differs radically from our streak-counting mentality.
Drawing from Paul's powerful words in Philippians 3, this episode reframes spiritual consistency as persistent forward motion rather than flawless performance. "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection, but I press on," Paul writes. This approach liberates us from the crushing weight of legalism and reveals the path to true spiritual growth.
The journey from spiritual "milk" to "meat" represents a natural progression requiring patience and perseverance. Just as meat takes longer to chew but provides greater nourishment, deeper spiritual truths demand more time and focus but equip us for life's most challenging trials. Through practical rhythms and spiritual disciplines, we build the stamina needed for consistent faith, even when feelings fluctuate. Most importantly, we can rest in the assurance that "there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Your imperfect consistency is covered by perfect grace.
Have you been measuring your spiritual growth by perfection rather than persistence? Download, share, and rate this episode if it's helped shift your perspective on what consistency in faith really means.
Welcome to the Living From Sunday to Sunday podcast with your host, pastor B. This podcast is designed to help you walk faithfully with God through the various trials and challenges this life presents. The truth of who we are is revealed in our lives in between Sundays. You will be inspired, challenged and equipped to live a victorious life that will bring glory to God himself. Come on, let's get started. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Living from Sunday to Sunday podcast. I am your host, pastor B. Thank you so much for listening and tuning into today's episode. I believe that this is the best 15 minutes of your day, because real change happens 15 minutes at a time. So do me a favor please make sure that you like, share and subscribe to this podcast Everywhere, for podcasts can be found All right. So this is another listener appreciation episode.
Speaker 1:I received an answer to one of the questions that I had put out of asking what is the toughest part about being a Christian, and so one of the questions that I, or one of the answers, rather, to that question, was consistency, right, and so I believe that's something that I think we all think about, we all wonder about in our walk with God how can I be more consistent, and I think the first thing we have to look at is we have to look at what is the model of consistent, of consistency that you are judging yourself by? Right? Do you view consistency as stacking days and like not missing your YouVersion Bible streak, right, whenever you miss that? Are you so focused on hitting it every single day that when you miss a day and you have to start back over, does that crush your dreams? Right? Or is consistency never giving up? Right? I've seen pictures and photos about when it comes to content creation or really doing anything in life, building consistency really is. It starts with having the right frame of mind. Right, you do build habits and having some repetition and building your habits is certainly important of your walk with God. I want us to kind of view our walk with God from the lens of grace versus the lens of like legalism. Right, because God, he expects us to have our minds renewed. He expects us to obey him, he expects us to be as holy as he is. So these are his expectations. But in terms of how he handles our mistakes and how he handles us falling or missing the mark, and he's not as as judgmental as sometimes I think we we are and how we see our, our lives, right.
Speaker 1:So there's a scripture In Philippians, chapter three, in the key verse is verse 14. But I want to give a little context to Paul and what he's writing in this particular text. So I want to start at verse 10. Verse 10 says I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, one way or another, I will experience the resurrection from death, the dead. So that's a pretty, um, pretty bold declaration from paul. Right, I want to know and experience the mighty power of god, right, and so, if that is his goal and if, if that is his aim, there is um, some things that he will have to do, some, um things he'll have to lay aside, some things that he will have to do without in order to reach this goal.
Speaker 1:But verse 12, this is what he says. He says I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection, but I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling you right. So in our walk with God, what should be our focus? Our focus should be to desire to please God, to desire to be like God, but know that when we fall short of that standard, when we set our goal for holiness and we miss that mark, that God does not cause us to start over from the beginning. Right, many of us, sometimes in our phones, we keep track and record of our, of our new version Bible app notification. Like every day. It goes up every time that we read and open up the app.
Speaker 1:Right, but sometimes we can feel crushed whenever that that streak is broken. Right, and we have to start all the way back over. That is not how God views our walk with him. What he wants us to do is he wants us just to keep moving forward. God does not want us to be complacent in our mistakes and in our sins. Right, because we can't say that we're complacent and that we're pressing and striving and trying to reach our spiritual goal or to be more like him, right. So that's why it's really important we can't be so wrapped up in the fact that there's no instant punishment for our sins that we don't strive to be more like God, we don't put aside the weights and sins that easily trip us up, and we don't set up boundaries to give us success in walking with God. Right, there's still a level of participation, of focus that the scripture talks about. That's required, and so whenever we fall, we can't get hung up on it. That's why I'm in verse 13. It says that he forgets the past. Right. Scripture tells us that God has cast our sins into the sea of forgetfulness. Right as far as the east is from the west. That is, how far our sin is separate from us in the eyes of God, right. And so if God doesn't hold us hostage on the sin that we committed yesterday, then we shouldn't hold ourselves hostage as well.
Speaker 1:The most important thing that we must do is to remain consistent, to keep moving forward, right. Ask for forgiveness, repent and keep moving forward. That is how I see consistency. It's fluid, right. Some days you're up, some days you're down, some days you're a spiritual avenger and other days we are. We must keep moving forward. Ask God to renew our faith, ask God to renew our mind right so that we can learn from the mistakes of yesterday, so that we can grow in the knowledge of God. One of the things that is a marker of your spiritual growth is when you grow from what's called spiritual milk to meat, and basically what that is is there are some foundational, rudimentary principles of your Christian walk that keep you, and I guess you would live off these simple principles, but then, as you grow in God, there are certain trials in life that require a deeper faith, a deeper level of consistency, a deeper level of focus and a deeper level of Bible study. You have to develop a hunger for some of the deeper parts of Scripture and deeper levels to this walk with God.
Speaker 1:And many of us, we don't like to start and change our diet to meat because it takes more. It takes longer to chew on meat than it does drinking milk. Right, the milk is, like I said, is some of the baser levels of your walk with God, but different trials will require a different level of stamina. Stamina and, as we know, in our human body, meat provides protein. It provides us the strength to carry more, and so, when God has called you to carry more, then you have to be able to have a deeper understanding of God. That is when we transition to meatier, heavier things that the spirit will unlock. And so that is again. It's a process. Man Sanctification is a process.
Speaker 1:Don't let people trick you into thinking that they've always been a meat eater. We all start with milk. Been a meat eater, we all start with milk. Right? We all make mistakes, we all have misinterpretations of the word sometimes, and it takes the Holy Spirit and godly counsel to steer us back on the right track. So, consistency, it is the building of your faith. We just can't give up. Know that God loves you. Know that he sees where you are. Know that he is going to be with you every step of the way. I'll tell you this, though setting a know we got technology in our phones.
Speaker 1:Now to where doing some of the rudimentary things in the faith, they can become routine. Right. So praying as often as you can. Maybe you may not be able to sit physically and pray, but having renewing your mind with scripture and meditating on the word of God, that's something that you can do all day long. Right, setting aside quiet time just to hear from the Lord. These are things that build up your faith right, listening for the voice of God, letting God speak to you. These are things that, again, they develop you into a more rounded believer, and so that's the level of consistency that is needed, but it's not hit or miss. It's not something that, again, is needed, but it's not hit or miss. It's not something that, again, if you miss, if you have one day when you're feeling on fire for God, and then the other day whenever you don't really feel it, god wants you to just keep going us.
Speaker 1:Whenever we're not feeling holy all the time, it's natural for us not to do that Again. It's our responsibility not to stay that way. But feeling those thoughts of disappointment, you have to know that we are not condemned because we believe in Jesus Christ, right. There is therefore no condemnation to those who are after, or who are in Christ Jesus right, who walk after the spirit and not after the flesh, right? So let the Lord be your guide, submit to him, continue to strive. There will be moments where your focus will be off, but that's OK.
Speaker 1:Let's focus back in Right, get rid of the the, just the distractions, and I promise you will see your growth in God and you'll look up and three months later, the things that used to tick you off and you would easily because people out, it doesn't move you as much and those are just some, some small markers. You know that your, your time with God is benefiting you All, right? Well, listen, that's all we have for today. I again want to thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Of course, this episode can be found everywhere where podcasts are available. So we're talking Good Pods, apple Podcasts, spotify. Please make sure that you download, share, like and comment even on the show, and please give us a five-star rating if you are enjoying this podcast and if it is being a blessing to you. And until next time, we'll see you when we see you, bye, bye. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe to our channel, as well as this podcast, everywhere where they can be found. Have a great one.
