5 Stages Of The Soulنموونە

Intimate Love—Being Light and Love for the World

   

OBSTACLES TO GROWTH

As long as we are in this body of flesh, we will have temptations. At this stage, we have been “made perfect” through suffering but are still vulnerable to temptation. We may feel the battle of loneliness and discouragement when we find there are few people who understand the depth of peace and surrender we experience with God.

In addition, we may be criticized for our choices, which likely seem foreign to those who live by worldly standards. For instance, we may feel called to live among the poor and be criticized by our friends for not being a good steward of our resources.

In fact, we may face this stage seemingly alone, except for the companionship and assurance of the Holy Spirit, who supernaturally guides, strengthens, and sustains us on the last leg of the journey, no matter how impossible the terrain.

Like the apostle Paul, no matter the depth of the loneliness and hardship, we desire nothing more than to one day say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

TRANSFORMATION THROUGH SUFFERING—SHARING IN CHRIST’S SUFFERING

Sharing in Christ’s suffering cannot be defined as the general pain and struggles of life. In Stage Five, sharing in Christ’s suffering is sharing in Christ’s mission of the redemption of humankind. Gordon Fee notes:

Thus Christ’s sufferings do not refer to “sufferings in general,” but to those sufferings that culminated in his death, all of which was for the sake of others. Likewise, it is not just any kind of present suffering to which Paul refers . . . but to those which in particular express participation in Christ’s sufferings; and the aim, as well as the character, of such suffering is to “become like him in his death,” which almost certainly means suffering that is in some way on behalf of the gospel, thus for the sake of others, since no other suffering is in conformity to his.

More specifically, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes this in the trials he was experiencing as a result of proclaiming the good news of Christ: (2 Corinthians 4:10–12).

As a result of bringing and being the light of Christ in a dark world, the believer in this stage experiences hardships such as false accusations, persecution, unjust suffering, and, for some, even martyrdom and death.

Today, millions of believers face the most extreme forms of persecution—from forced conversions and execution of believers in Iraq by ISIL and other extremists to the government-led demolitions of churches and crosses in Zhejiang province, China.

A.W. Tozer, in his book The Root of the Righteous, addresses human suffering and God’s presence in it—whether it be the “howl of protest from the newborn ”or the martyrdom of the servant. He writes:

It is not possible that the afflicted saint should feel a stab of pain to which Christ is a stranger. Our Lord not only suffered once on earth, He suffers now along with His people. “Behold,” cried the old saint as he watched a youthful martyr die. “Behold how our Lord suffers in the body of His handmaid.”

Yet, believers in Stage Five no longer fear death; they see it merely as a door to the ultimate reality. Heaven, for them, is the everlasting fullness of life with Christ and but also a continuation of becoming the people God always intended them to be.

“Every age, happily, has its heroes,” writes May Quinlan. “Some die for country; others for a cause; some have sacrificed themselves for the many, others for an individual friend or stranger; but the sacrifice of Joseph Damien de Veuster was not as these. For though he died that others might live, his object was not so much to preserve the life of the body as to ensure the salvation of the soul.”      

We have finished our journey together through the Stages of the Soul, the five “loves” we experience that begin with the First Love of conversion and culminate in Intimate Love—maturity and union with God. At each stage of the soul, we have seen the grand invitation from God to journey with Him, to grow and mature us in His love, and to radiate that love to whomever we meet.

No matter the stage we are in, a challenge lies before each of us: Are we willing to accept His invitation to the next stage? For readers of this plan, the more immediate question is: What will you do with the knowledge you have gained here? The temptation may be to acquire more information on the spiritual journey but not allow it to actually inspire us toward change. Everything we learn in the spiritual life, we must—by His grace—put into action. 

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