January 2024
Dear Alumni
We have just welcomed the new year and soon we will be celebrating the Lunar New Year! As we focus on our walk with the Lord this year, l would like to share an article that Pastor Edmund Chan wrote recently to his friends and mentees on Spiritual Dryness. This is a ‘must read’ for every Christian who takes his or her discipleship seriously. Pastor Chan has given me permission to use his article in this month’s SBConnect. Pastor Ed, as he is most affectionately known, is our alumnus and also a member of the SBC Board. His books on Discipleship, his messages and his regular devotional writings have been a great source of encouragement to the church at large.
In this article Pastor Ed speaks of the “paradox of an outward busyness and an inward spiritual barrenness which is worrisome”. We may seem to be bearing much fruit but in actuality we may be truly barren. May the Holy Spirit convict our heart, mind and spirit even as we reflect on these truths.
Spiritual Dryness (Mark 4:14-20)
A devotion by Pastor Edmund Chan
Spiritual dryness.?
It’s not merely a spiritual malaise – it’s more serious than that – It’s a spiritual pandemic in the global Church!
Spiritual dryness often resides in the twilight zone of a confounding paradox – the paradox of an outward busyness and an inward? spiritual barrenness. And the reality is worrisome. For a person can be seemingly fruitful – and yet be spiritually dry!?
Spiritual dryness is a serious, chronic condition.?
In the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:14-20), Jesus gives His spiritual x-ray vision into the condition of the soul, which addresses the problem of spiritual dryness. Our Lord highlights three conditions of the compromised soul – the root of which is a compromised heart that marginalises the Word of God!?
Condition 1. NO TRUE CONCERN
Christians can end up spiritually dry because deep down, they actually have no appetite for spiritual things (Mark 4:15). It’s all about their self-centered agenda (or lip-service). A ‘Sunday Christian’. There is no true hunger for the Word and spiritual growth.?This spiritual condition gives Satan an opportunity to rob that person of the Word of God!
Condition 2. NO TRUE COMMITMENT
Christians can end up spiritually dry because they have but a superficial commitment without root (Mark 4:16,17).?Here is one who receives the Word with apparent joy. He delights in a spiritual feast on God’s Word. He is seemingly hungry. However, these have “no firm root in themselves”. A ‘shallow Christian’. There is no sanctified perseverance in holding fast to God’s Word.?
Condition 3. NO TRUE CONVICTION
Christian can become spiritually dry because they have allowed their biblical convictions to be sorely compromised (Mark 4:18-19).?Here’s a person who, somewhere down the line, has lost perspective. Deception kicks in. He becomes a worried Christian (“the worries of the world” ), or a blinded Christian (“the deceitfulness of riches”), or a covetous Christian (“the desire for other things”). For these Christians, their carnal appetites supersede their spiritual aspirations. They become spiritually shrivelled within because of lost convictions!?
2024 affords a new start in a fresh walk with God.?
And to do so, some radical soul-searching is helpful – “Has spiritual dryness crept within us despite our love for God and Christian activities?”?
Let’s check the problem now – in our lives and those we lead – and make 2024 an unprecedented year of spiritual vitality and spiritual growth!?
Develop a keen hunger for the deep things of God and a faithful commitment to God’s Word.?
Commit to a daily time alone with God.?
Have a blessed pilgrimage ahead!
I trust that God will guard us against this ‘spiritual pandemic’ that has impacted the church globally. May we be more intentional this year as we fix our eyes on Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith and run the race set before us. May we do the one thing that Mary of Bethany did – sit at Jesus’ feet, worship and commune with him. May we abide in Christ even as he abides in us. Only then can we be truly fruitful.
