Growth In Christ

I met a person the other day who told me how he had lost his job. He said that he worked in an environment where deception was necessary in order to survive. The workers would fudge on details in reports made to superiors because the work was stressful and people felt like they couldn't accomplish everything expected of them. My friend, who is a Christian, tried to be honest in his dealings with people and his reporting. However, one situation arose where he failed. During a meeting he was confronted about a difficult situation he had been involved in. He looked his superior straight in the eye and told a lie. What he said was what the supervisor wanted to hear, but it wasn't the truth. My friend left that meeting and was seized with remorse. He had done the very thing everyone else was doing, but it wasn't the way of Christ. He went back and confessed. The end result was he lost his job.

Later in our conversation he asked what I was preaching on Sunday. As I described the difference between "growth in confidence" and "growth in Christ" he asked a question about the concept of joining Christ in his suffering and becoming like him in his death. I told him that his returning to his supervisior was a perfect example of "dying to self" so that Christ could live through him. Although he lost the job, he grew spiritually. Because of his willingness to humble himself he came to know Christ better and thus was able to imitate him.