The 3 ways in which a Christian grows in their Christian faith

Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ (NIV)

Are Christians only to concern themselves with the practical everyday concerns of life and not the matters of the mind? American Christianity styles itself as the relevant practical lifestyle that can improve one's marriage, one's job or one's life. However when it comes to areas such as theology or the deeper issues of life, many will claim such matters lie outside the realm of the practical issues of life.

Unfortunately, when we only stress the relevant and the practical at the expense of a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, Christians risk becoming less relevant and more ineffective in their Christian walk. In this verse we find that Christians are to experience Christ on three levels:

WE ARE TO EXPERIENCE CHRIST ON THE PRACTICAL LEVEL
To ensure my readers that I am not dismissing the practical dimensions of Christian growth, let it be known that Christian spirituality finds its chiefest expression in practical growth and living. Proverbs 4:23 states: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (NIV). How one lives proceeds directly from the heart. In the Bible the heart is the control center in which the will, the emotions and the mind operate.

In the realm of philosophy we commonly refer to what is termed "ethics", wherein we are defining the boundaries of right and wrong, good and evil. The great Christian philosopher Francis Shaeffer coined a question that enables Christians to govern themselves in practical matters: "How then shall we live?". As crucial as practical Christianity is, what I do directly flows from my own personal experience of Christ in my soul.

WE ARE TO EXPERIENCE CHRIST ON THE MYSTICAL LEVEL
Practical living flows directly from how one relates to Christ personally or mystically. There is a subjective (mystical) as a well as a practical side to the Christian faith. One only needs to survey the scripture to affirm this truth. In John 1:12-13 and John 3:3 the Christian is described as being "born-again" or "born from above". Luke tells us in Acts 26:18 that Christians have been transferred from "darkness to light" and "death to life".

The writer in Hebrews 12:22-23 describes Christian conversion as that of experiencing the singing of thousands upon thousands of the angelic host. Furthermore, Christians look forward to the day in which Christ will return and take them up into the air, transforming their bodies and transporting them directly into His presence. Not only that, but may scriptures testify to the activity of the Lord in our prayer lives and the manner in which God's own voice can be heard through the reading and preaching of the scriptures.

Truly all of these experiences are mystical. To deny this side of the Christian faith can lead to a dry dead religious lifestyle. To be truly balanced, the believer in Christ must have one foot in the practical and one in the mystical. In the other extreme many Christians will so emphasize the mystical that they lay themselves prone to heresy and error. Both practical and mystical dimensions are crucial to a vibrant experience of Christ, which describes loving Jesus Christ with all of our soul. However there is one other dimension in which we are to grow or experience Jesus Christ.

WE ARE TO EXPERIENCE CHRIST ON THE THEOLOGICAL LEVEL
Notice what Jesus states in Matthew 22:37: "love the Lord...with all of your mind." Theology is not as scary as many people make it out to be. In fact one does not have to go to seminary or Bible College to be a theologian. To do theology or be a theologian simply means to study God. In fact all Christians are to one degree or another theologians. A Theologian is one who attempts to interpret and organize their understanding of life in biblical categories.

As important as it is to have the practical and subjective dimensions of the Christian faith, the believer must ensure that the first two are grounded in the objective revelation of God's wil through the Bible. If you want to live for Jesus more effectively and experience Jesus more dramatically, then you need to learn how to think like Jesus biblically. This requires us delighting in God's word by thinking upon it daily.

Joshua 1:8 states: "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." To accelerate ones understanding of scripture, believers should get involved in such things as Bible Studies at church or journaling. Activites such as these will discipline the Christian to understand better who Christ is and who they are.

Theology as a discipline is at the heart of discipleship, a word which Jesus uses to define all of those who follow Him. According to Jesus, loving the Lord includes engaging our minds to think and reason in such a way as to glorify God. If a Christian truly loves Jesus Christ, why would they prevent themselves from engaging Him with their minds?

Thus Christian growth entails loving Jesus Christ in the realm of the heart - or practical Christianity, the soul - or mystical Christianity and the mind - or Theological Christianity. Let all of those who endeavor to love the Lord do so in these three ways both equally and increasingly.