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To Suffer Well – Studies in 1 Peter
Message Three: Maintain Your Spiritual Growth
2:1-10
Introduction:
This past winter we were in a Sunday morning service at my parent’s
church, and during the prayer and praise time we heard a very
curious testimony. A lady sitting behind us was praising the Lord
for her daughter who was celebrating her birthday that day. Her
daughter was severely retarded; physically, emotionally, and
mentally. To look at her you would see a little girl who couldn’t
walk, couldn’t talk, and couldn’t take care of herself in any way at
all. She probably didn’t weigh over 50 lbs., and was less than four
feet tall. We probably can’t even begin to imagine what it was like
for her parents to care for her; and as much as they loved her, they
would tell you she consumed their time and energy. But what makes
this an amazing testimony is that they weren’t simply grateful for
their daughter on her birthday, they were publicly acknowledging
God’s goodness and grace to them in allowing them to have had their
daughter for the past 50 years!
Isn’t there something particularly sad about a baby who never grows
up? In the realm of nature, when a child can’t grow physically, he
usually dies because his mental and motor skills are so
underdeveloped. The consequences of this lack of development are
that he needs continuous care, he can only minimally contribute as a
member of society, and he consumes an inordinate amount of
resources. I’m not saying this in any kind of a demeaning way. He
is still a child of God, has a unique purpose for his existence, and
as such deserves our love and respect; but because of the lack of
growth his needs far outweigh his contribution. It is an amazing
thing that this woman had lived for 50 years, in spite of everything
the doctors had predicted. And while we are all grateful for God’s
intervention, we can’t deny the toll this girl has taken on her
parents in terms of time, energy, emotions, and finances.
Did you know that there are Christians who never grow up? They
experience salvation, they are “born again,” and they are brought
into God’s family; but they never grow up and thrive spiritually.
And what happens to the human family of the baby who doesn’t grow up
in the physical realm; happens to the spiritual family of the
spiritual baby who doesn’t grow up in the spiritual realm. And
while we are all grateful for God’s grace in saving that person, we
can’t deny the toll these Christian infants take on the rest of the
family of God in terms of time, energy, and emotions. I’m saying
this in love, but I find it very frustrating when I am working with
a parishioner, and in the back of my mind I’m thinking to myself,
“This is a Pre-K issue. I shouldn’t have to tell a person who has
been saved for 25 years that he needs to be nice. Or to treat
others the way they would like to be treated.” Christian infants
consume an inordinate amount of resources. And while it is
understandable to devote those resources to a newly saved person who
legitimately needs that level of care, the church is never going to
be what God intends for it to be if each of us doesn’t take
spiritual growth seriously.
And one final thing that makes this even more difficult to deal with
is that an underdeveloped human doesn’t have the capacity to grow.
Genetically, something is out of whack; but even in their
underdeveloped state they are everything God intends for them to
be. That can’t be said for the underdeveloped Christian. He has
the capacity. He has the right DNA. Everything is in place for him
to grow and thrive, but for a variety of reasons, he doesn’t.
This is the issue Peter addresses in chapter 2:1-10. It isn’t
enough simply to be saved – we need to grow. Salvation is only the
beginning of the process, it isn’t the consummation. Salvation is
just the first step of very long journey. But if we will take our
growth seriously, Peter shows us that God will build us up into a
spiritual building that can be used greatly for God’s glory. In
these ten verses, we are going to see growth commanded, then growth
accomplished, and then finally growth demonstrated.
I. Growth Commanded – vv. 1-3
Therefore,
putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and
all slander, 2 like newborn babes, long for the pure
milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
The actual command to grow spiritually is found in verse
two, and is seen in the phrase, “long for the pure milk of the
word.” We have discovered by now that Peter is fond of
imperatives. We saw four of them in the last half of chapter one,
and this is the first one in chapter two. So this is a command, and
to obey this command requires us to lay something aside and then
fill the resulting void with something else. Peter then ends his
appeal with an incentive for growth.
A. Growth commanded negatively
– v. 1. Peter starts his appeal to grow by telling us there are
five things we need to remove from our life. We could call these
impediments to Christian growth, and they are common sins in the
Christian’s life. He starts with malice. Malice is a
very general word that means “anything evil.” So just in case he
misses some particular sin don’t worry – he’s got it covered under
this word malice. He then goes on to guile.
Guile is better known as deceit, or deliberate deception. It
doesn’t matter how noble the ultimate goal is, Christians should not
be engaging in deliberate deception. His next sin to put off is
hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is when we pretend to be something
we really aren’t. This word was originally used to describe an
actor in a play and didn’t carry such negative connotations, but now
it is never perceived positively. We all know what hypocrisy looks
like so we don’t have to spend a lot of time here. Envy
is when we have feelings of ill-will toward a person over his good
fortune. We mistakenly think that envy is when we want what someone
else has (similar to jealousy), which may be part of it; but what
really makes envy envy is the feelings of animosity we have toward
the person who is the recipient of some good thing. And finally,
Peter mentions slander. This word means to speak
against someone else, and Peter mentions it right after envy because
slander is the normal result of envy. Slander is the typical way
envy is expressed. So this is the first way Peter exhorts us to
grow spiritually, by removing the impediments to spiritual growth.
So to sum up this verse, these five sins are typical, run of the
mill sins common in the world. Think of your work place and you
will agree with me that these issues are very prevalent. In fact,
for many of us, these sins were probably a regular part of our life
before we came to Christ for salvation. But Peter tells us to get
rid of them. If you were to picture them as articles of clothing,
we are supposed to strip them off and throw them away (apoqe,menoi
- ‘put aside’). The imagery is not of a person getting
undressed for bed who carefully takes off each item of clothing,
folds it carefully, and then puts it away. The picture is of a
person who has discovered bees in his clothing and is stripping down
quickly. These sins have no business being a part of the believer’s
life, they are detrimental to growth, and if they are a part of your
life, it is high time to grow up and get rid of them!
The second point of application we can make from this verse is that
we will never be able to obey the command of verse two if our lives
are full of these five sins. In verse two we see that we are to
“long for the pure milk of the word,” and the imagery is that of
a hungry baby. Why do babies get hungry? Because their bellies are
empty. They don’t cry for food when they are full. Peter’s point
is that if our lives are full of these sins, we aren’t going to be
hungry for the word of God, which is what brings about growth. So
if you aren’t growing spiritually, and you can’t seem to pinpoint
exactly why you don’t have a desire for growth, maybe it’s because
you are full of stuff you need to purge.
So verse one tells us what we need to get rid of, verse two tells us
what we need to be doing positively if we want to grow spiritually.
And what I want you to appreciate as we look at this verse is the
simplicity of the plan. It isn’t easy (nothing worthwhile comes
easy), but it is simple. Anyone can do it.
B. Growth commanded positively – v. 2.
In this verse, Peter tells us we are to “long for the pure milk
of the word that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”
And just to make sure we know how we are supposed to do this,
he tells us to do it like a new-born baby longs to be fed. When is
the last time you heard the term “infantile” or “childish” used in a
complimentary or positive way? Probably never! Usually, when we
want to demean someone we call them infantile, or we tell them to
stop being childish. But here we see Peter commending being
child-like! And when you think about it, this is something you see
in other parts of the Bible as well. In Mt. 18:3,
Jesus says,
"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like
children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Peter and Jesus are not commending childish immaturity or
selfishness here, but they are commending child-like sincerity. One
of the beauties of childhood is that they aren’t skilled at hiding
what they really are. If a thought crosses his mind, it usually
comes out of his mouth. This is why you will hear a child blurt out
in the middle of a church service, “Mommy, I have to go potty!” I
heard a child say at a missions presentation, “I don’t want to be a
missionary when I grow up because missionaries get killed
sometimes.” No adult would ever say that because as adults we are
much more sophisticated in our excuses. We’d say something like, “I
need to give some prayer to this matter to see if this is God’s will
for my life or not.” Children aren’t like that, they have a
commendable level of simplicity, transparency and sincerity. That
should be our attitude when we come to God’s Word. We recognize it
for the life and health it gives and so we earnestly and sincerely
long for the ingestion of that Word. That Word will only impart
health and vitality if we get it into our lives. In the very same
way a baby will starve to death eventually if all he does is stare
at the bottle of formula, the Christian will starve to death if all
he does is stare at the Bible. He has to pick it up and actually
taking it in, which is Peter’s point in the next verse.
But do you see the simplicity of this plan for growth? It
isn’t some complex system of exercises and diet and machines. It is
sitting down with God’s Word every day and prayerfully asking God,
“What do you have for me today?”
Transition: The final thing I want you to note
from this first point is that Peter gives us an incentive for
growth. I don’t know if you have ever received a coupon in the mail
offering the first month free if you join a fitness center, but they
often give incentives to get in shape. Peter does the same in verse
three.
C. Growth’s incentive – v. 3.
In verse three Peter gives us an incentive for growth when he says,
“if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” When Joshua
was small, he was a very fussy eater, and his diet for quite a while
consisted of oatmeal, applesauce, and chicken patties. I can still
remember trying to entice him to eat ice cream. No matter what I
said, I couldn’t convince him that ice cream actually tasted good.
It wasn’t until I actually grabbed his fat cheeks and squeezed his
mouth open and forced some in that he decided that ice cream tasted
good. Once he got a taste, nothing could stop him.
Some of you may have a translation of the Bible that says, “Since
you have tasted the kindness of the Lord,” which is actually a
better translation. Grammatically, Peter isn’t conveying something
uncertain here, like the word “if” usually does. He is stating a
fact. His overall point in these three verses is that since
you have tasted the kindness of the Lord, you should earnestly
desire the sincere milk of the Word, so that you will grow.
Peter’s point in verse three is that once we get a taste for the
Word of God, nothing can hold us back. That is a promise that is
reiterated multiple times in the Bible.
Ps. 19:10
speaks of God’s Word as being “sweeter also than honey and the
drippings of the honeycomb.”
Psalm 34:8
“O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man
who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 119:103 “How
sweet are Thy words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my
mouth! Heb. 6:4-5 talks of “those who have once been
enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made
partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the age to come.” Over and over again the
authors of the Bible compare the ingestion of God’s Word to tasting
sweets. This is because sweets were a rarity 2000 years ago.
People didn’t have access to refined sugar like we do, so when
someone compared the Word of God to honey, that was a powerful
comparison that had tremendous motivating appeal.
To summarize Peter’s first point in these ten verses, we
are commanded to grow spiritually. God expects this of us. There
are certain things we have to lay aside that impede our growth (v.
1), and there is an attitude as well as an action we have to engage
in if we want to grow (v. 2). And finally, we have an incentive to
grow (v.3). We have tasted the kindness of the Lord. Next week we
will look at Peter’s two final points: growth accomplished, and then
growth demonstrated.
How To Suffer Well – Studies in 1 Peter
Message Three: Maintain Your Spiritual Growth – Pt. 2
2:1-10
Let’s turn in our Bibles this
morning to 1 Peter chapter two.
The theme of this short book is “how to
suffer well,” and we are studying through it paragraph by
paragraph. As we have been studying
this book, I have been sharing with you keys to suffering well.
The first key we looked at was that we need to maintain an eternal
focus. Peter spends ten verses telling us about our glorious
salvation in the beginning of this book to help us keep our
perspective straight when we are suffering.
His second key is to maintain an external focus. In the last half
of chapter one, there are four imperatives that if we obey, our
focus will be drawn away from ourselves and our circumstances and
enable us to focus on ministering to others. The principle being
invoked here is that as we minister to others, our own needs get
met. That is a good thing to remember when suffering. This brings
us up to the third key,
which we started two weeks ago. This key is to maintain our
spiritual growth.
This key is found in 2:1-10. In these verses he lets us know that
growing spiritually is something we need to take seriously.
Salvation is not the goal or the destination. It is just the
beginning of the journey. And in the same way that it’s a tragedy
when a human infant fails to grow, it is a tragedy when a Christian
infant fails to grow. Human infants need continuous care, they can
only minimally contribute as a member of society, and they consume
an inordinate amount of resources. The same is true of Christians
who never grow up. So because of this truth, Peter tells us in
verse two that we are to “long for the pure milk of the word”
so that we “may grow in respect to salvation.”
So if you are following the outline, point number one is
Growth Commanded – “grow in respect to salvation.” That is
an imperative. In verse one, this growth is commanded
negatively by showing us some impediments we need to put
aside that keep us from growing. In verse two, growth is commanded
positively by giving us both an attitude to have and
an action to engage in. And then Peter ends the section by giving
us an incentive to grow in verse three.
Transition: This brings us up to point
two of this message, and I’m calling this Growth Accomplished. This
is seen in verses four through eight. Read along in your Bible as
we look at these verses.
II. Growth Accomplished – vv. 4-8
4
And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice
and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living
stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ. 6 For this is contained in
Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner
stone, And he who believes in Him shall not be
disappointed." 7 This precious value, then, is for you
who believe. But for those who disbelieve, "The stone which the
builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,"
8 and, "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense"; for they
stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this
doom they were also appointed.
In these verses we see an important principle of Scripture coming
into play. Put simply, it is this. How you respond to Jesus
ultimately determines what you receive from Him. Responding to
Jesus correctly leads to growth, as we see in verses 4 – 5, and
responding to Jesus incorrectly leads to judgment, as we are going
to see in verses 6 – 8.
A.
Responding to Jesus correctly leads to growth – vv. 4-5
Look with me at this description of Jesus in verse four. We read
that Jesus is a “living stone, rejected by men but choice and
precious in the sight of God.” What is this “living stone” that
Peter is talking about? Probably the best way to think about this
image is to think of a cornerstone in a building. We know Peter has
this in mind because of verse six where he actually uses that word.
If you will go down to Catskill and look at some of the older
buildings, you will see that some of them have a large stone placed
prominently in the front of the building. They usually have a date
or something else carved into it. Sometimes they are literally on
the corner of the building, but not always. That is the cornerstone
of the building. Nowadays, that stone is simply decorative, but
they didn’t use to be. There was a time in the history of
architecture when the single most important stone of the entire
building was this cornerstone. It had to be absolutely perfect in
its 90 degree angle, and it had to be absolutely straight
perpendicularly. That outside corner couldn’t have any lean in it
at all. The reason for this precision is that every stone that was
laid in the building was based on the lines the cornerstone
established. Any deviation from perfection in the cornerstone would
therefore become more and more magnified and pronounced as the
building progressed.
Peter refers to Jesus as a “living stone,” or a “corner stone”
because He is the single most important element a person can build
his life on. He is absolutely perfect in every way. Many people
unfortunately reject Jesus as the cornerstone of their lives and try
to build their lives on other things. Peter refers to this in verse
four when he tells us that this cornerstone is “rejected” by some
men. For some people, Jesus is rejected in favor of education.
That is their cornerstone. That is their key to life. For others,
they try to build their lives on their career. The right career is
the key to life. For others, it’s wealth. For others, it is
pleasure. For some, it is entertainment. The list is probably
endless.
But Peter tells us in these two verses that if we come to Jesus as
the Cornerstone, we will be “built
up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Responding correctly to Jesus leads to growth.
Here is an application question for you. What is the basis of your
relationship to Jesus? Is He a precious cornerstone to you? Is He
the single most important element of your life? Let me make this a
little more pointed. Why are you here this morning? If your
relationship with Jesus is based on duty,
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or because your parents demand it,
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or because you have a romantic interest in someone who has a
relationship with Jesus,
·
or because your friends have a relationship with Him,
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or because you are hedging your bets,
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or because you grew up in a Christian family,
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or because it is expected of you,
Jesus is not your cornerstone and you aren’t going to grow
spiritually! And not only that, your life is also going to be
characterized by disappointment, and frustration, and chaos, and
vanity. Jesus is the only One who can give meaning and stability to
your life.
We see a good illustration of how this works in another
architectural image. There is a good chance that the word for
cornerstone down in verse six can also be understood from the
perspective of the keystone in an arch. Similar to the cornerstone
of a building, the keystone in an arch holds the whole structure
together. It is shaped in such a way as to exert lateral force and
downward force at the same time. Let me show you some pictures of
keystones and you can see what I mean. So whether you perceive
Jesus from the perspective of a keystone in an arch or a cornerstone
in a building, He is the One who will add stability to your life and
hold your life together.
The reason I am calling this point “growth accomplished”
is because of the verb tense in verse five – “you also, as living
stones, are being built up.” The verb Peter uses in this
phrase is passive, it is not active. And there is a big difference
between the two ideas. For instance, think of the difference
between these two sentences. “Murray hit the ball.” Is that active
or passive verb? Active! The subject of the sentence (“Murray”) is
performing the action (“hit”) on the object of the sentence
(“ball”). How about this sentence? “Murray was hit by the ball.”
That is passive, because the object of the sentence (“ball”) is
performing the action (“hit”) on the subject. And the two sentences
convey completely different ideas, don’t they?
So the phrase, “you also . . . are being built up,” as a
passive phrase, tells us that growth is a result of someone else
performing the action on us. The bricks or stones used in a
building don’t somehow exert their willpower and fling themselves up
into their place on the wall. The mason picks them up and places
them on the wall. “You also . . . are being built up.” This
is why the Bible also refers to spirituality in terms of fruit.
When you think about it, fruit is something that happens, it is not
the result of the tree exerting itself and somehow making itself
grow fruit. We can actually say that fruit is a byproduct. If the
soil is good, and the nutrients are available, and the roots are
deep, and there is moisture and sun, the fruit will come about on
its own volition. Jesus makes this point in John 15 by appealing to
a grape vine.
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2
"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and
every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear
more fruit. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself [“fruit is a byproduct”], unless it
abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in
Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides
in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can
do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is
thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and
cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Jesus makes the very same point Peter does. Growth is
accomplished. Yes it is commanded as we saw in verses 1 – 3, but it
is accomplished not by our efforts but by coming to Jesus as the
living stone, abiding in Him, and then allowing Him to work in us.
Transition:
Now, the next point Peter makes in verses 4 – 8 is that responding
to Jesus incorrectly leads to judgment.
B.
Responding to Jesus incorrectly leads to judgment – vv. 6-8
6
For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a
choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in
Him shall not be disappointed." 7 This precious value,
then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, "The
stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner
stone," 8 and, "A stone of stumbling and a rock of
offense"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word,
and to this doom they were also appointed.
These three verses are a Biblical illustration of the
truth presented in verses four and five. Jesus is that “choice
stone” and “precious corner stone” of verse six. And if
we recognize Him as such and believe in Him and come to Him in that
role, we won’t be disappointed. He will use us and cause us to grow
as we see back in verses four and five. On the other hand, if I
look at Jesus and decide He doesn’t meet my expectation of Someone
on whom I can build my life, that precious Cornerstone that can add
stability and serenity and meaning to my chaotic and meaningless
life will become a “stone of stumbling” and a “rock
of offense.”
What does that mean? The stone of stumbling and
rock of offense are word pictures that describe the
destructive power of stones. What material do we use in
grindstones? Stone. What is usually used in a mortar and
pedestal? Stone. When it comes to crushing, or grinding, or
pulverizing, nothing works as well as stone. Are you starting to
see the dual role Jesus plays? He is a stone, and the role He plays
in your life is your choice. If you do not let Him serve in your
life as a cornerstone or a keystone, He will serve in your life as
grindstone. That is the significance of the last phrase in verse
eight, “to this doom they were also appointed.” Peter
doesn’t spell out for us what that doom entails, but Jesus
elaborates on this concept in Matthew 21:44 when He says in
speaking of Himself as a stone, “And
he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces
[believe it or not, this is actually a positive thing! This is a
reference to humbling yourself before Jesus and repenting of your
sins and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Master. There is nothing
wrong with this kind of brokenness]; but on whomever it falls, it
will scatter him like dust.” In other words, if you don’t
stumble over Jesus, He will crush you. Or I could put it this way.
Jesus is either the source of your salvation or the source of your
destruction. He will either be your cornerstone or your
grindstone. He will be either the keystone in your arch, or the
mortar and pestle of your destruction. The role He plays, though,
is up to you!
So to summarize point number two, after we see growth commanded in
verses 1 – 3, we see growth accomplished in verses 4 – 8.
Responding correctly to Jesus results in growth, and responding
incorrectly to Jesus results in judgment. Look quickly with me now
at verses nine and ten where we see growth demonstrated.
III. Growth Demonstrated – vv. 9-10
9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the
excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light; 10 for you once were not a people, but
now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now
you have received mercy.
The phrase that governs these two verses is
found half way through verse nine where we see that we are to
proclaim the wonders of Jesus because He has called us out of
darkness and into His marvelous light. Now what would compel us to
do something like that?
A.
Internally recognizing who we are – v. 9
The reason we would be compelled to do this is
because of the reality of verse nine. Once we come to Jesus and
make Him the Cornerstone of our life, He grows us up with the result
that we are no longer just a part of the masses of people who
inhabit the earth – we are a chosen race of people, a holy nation,
and a people of God’s very own possession. What’s more, we have a
noble function – we are priests before God. That is the reality of
our lot in life. Now, our external circumstances may not indicate
this exalted position, but internally we know this is true. And
since we are priests before God, we need to proclaim Jesus as the
Cornerstone.
B.
Externally proclaiming who He is – v. 10
To the degree we grasp the reality of our new station in life we
will be declaring the excellencies of Jesus. Jesus holds our lives
together. Jesus gives us hope for this world and the next. Jesus
turns chaos into cosmos. Jesus opens our eyes so we can perceive
reality accurately. This is all wrapped up in the idea of
“proclaiming the excellencies of Him who has called us out of
darkness and into light.” And if we do this, we will be
demonstrating growth. We will be fulfilling the command of verses 1
– 3.
Conclusion:
So, what does all this have to do with suffering well? Let me leave
you with and illustration from nature. We are all familiar with the
differences between mountains and valleys. And in Christian
circles, we have adopted these concepts and applied them to
spiritual experiences. We talk of mountaintop experiences, like
last Sunday; and we speak of valley experiences [Cf. my talking with
Frank and Leta when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer]. We
all prefer the mountaintop experiences, don’t we? Nobody enjoys the
valleys of life. We accept them because we understand the
providence of God. We endure them because of the commands to
be faithful. But we don’t usually embrace the valley.
But there is a truth that applies to both the realm of nature and
the realm of the spiritual, and that is that things don’t grow very
well on the top of a mountain. In fact, when you get up around
11,500 feet, nothing grows at all. That is the timberline. From
that point and up, all you have is rock and soil, and many times all
you have is snow and ice. We don’t look to the mountaintop to
provide us with fruit and produce. If we want those, we have to go
to the valley because it is in the valley that the rich soil has
accumulated. The California olives you eat are not grown in the
Sierra Nevadas. They are grown in the Napa Valley. The almonds you
enjoy are grown in the Napa Valley, as are the grapes for the wine.
Now, the Sierra Nevadas can provide you with some stunning views,
and they are great to hike, but if you want to produce fruit, you
have to come down off the mountain and go to the valley. My
challenge to you this morning is this. Don’t waste your valley
experience. Recognize it for what it is – a divinely ordained
opportunity to grow spiritually. Don’t wallow in your valley –
cultivate it.
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