Articles
How Cliche!
Dear Last Resort: “I need to be a better Christian. I just don’t feel very close to God, and I feel like I’m just going through the motions. Also, I’m frustrated because my faith gets shattered every time someone objects to it and I don’t know enough to defend it. What’s worse, there are things I’ve been doing in my life that I don’t think God is pleased with, you know, some bad habits I’ve developed over the years I just can’t seem to get rid of. I really need some good advice. When I say advice, I mean practical, meaningful advice. I’ve talked to several other preachers about this, but they all seem to give the same answers: they tell me to spend more time reading, praying, and serving others. I appreciate them trying to help, but those answers are so cliche! That’s why you’re my last resort, because I’m hoping you’ll give me something new and fresh that I can work with.”
Dear Friend: I appreciate your desire to grow spiritually, and I would like to respond in two ways. First, it may be tempting to think that preachers keep harping on the same things because they’re simply out of ideas. However, even the apostle Peter was repetitive in his teaching. Are we to believe that one who was inspired by the Spirit of God was actually out of ideas? I think not! Peter tells us why he was so repetitive: “...that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles” (2 Peter 3:2). Peter didn’t have anything new to present, and neither do preachers today. We simply remind the brethren of the teaching of the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, because those are the things upon which God’s people are built (Eph. 2:20). Preachers preach those things because if people, like yourself, want to build stronger spiritual houses, those are the only tools that will get the job done.
Second, it is common for us to want to build our spiritual houses using our own tools. Millions of books have been published claiming to equip us with the tools necessary for spiritual growth, yet most are filled with self-esteem-building fluff and fail to realize that true equipment of the saints is accomplished through teaching the knowledge of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). I am in an impossible position. You see, you have asked me to help you build your spiritual house, yet you refuse to use the spiritual tools necessary to build it. I’m afraid you are trying to “climb up some other way” (John 10:1) into Heaven. There is no other way. Perhaps preachers seem cliche because you want there to be some secret formula or shortcut to spiritual growth that only the spiritually elite know about. However, there simply are no shortcuts to spiritual growth. My advice: it’s time for you to get to work God’s way, building with the hammer and nails of the apostles and prophets, and the boards of prayer and good works, because “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1a).
