Spiritually Stagnant

To be spiritually stagnant is to be in a place where one is not growing spiritually. In the case of the Born Again believer, for an example this is a place where they are no longer transforming into the image of Christ or growing in the knowledge of God's grace. Jesus wants every believer to grow and produce the fruit of righteousness which is Love, Joy, peace, Longsuffering..(Galations 5:22-23).  If someone who is a Born Again believing Christian and is failing to grow in these virtues they could be spiritually stagnant.

Spiritual stagnation is a problem that will bombard everyone at one point or another. Depression, fears and anxiety gush out, because we feel “separated” from God, from grace. We feel alone, sinful, dirty and unloved—or perhaps unloving.

A Christian’s spiritual life is not a static and unchangeable condition. You either make progress or you stagnate and start declining. The biblical injunction is that you must grow up spiritually to the mature man or woman in Christ (Eph. 4:13-14; Heb. 5:12 to 6:1). Peter says: “You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away by the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:17-18).

If you do not grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, then even the knowledge that you do have will become eroded over time and expose you to deception. The Bible warns us against spiritual stagnation as that is the opposite of growing in grace and holiness: “Pursue… holiness… looking diligently lest anyone should fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up should cause trouble, and by this many people become defiled” (Heb. 12:14-15).

The basic cause of apostatising is sin. Many Christians do not resist sin. Because of their attitude of compromise, they expose themselves to sin and are consequently drawn away from the Lord. “Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits” (1 Cor. 15:33). Jesus said, “Sin will be rampant everywhere and will cool the love of many” (Matt. 24:12 Living Bible).