Insignificant Growth

Insignificant Growth

8/20/16

This is a phrase that many of us can easily figure out its meaning but can we understand what it really means for our lives and what impact it has on others?  While it represents inexperience in general, it also refers to the development and the processes in which things or objects grow.  This growth process is the key to finding out what is causing pain in our bodies and it also can provide a list of questions without answers.  Our spiritual lives can be represented with the exact same amount of non-information when it comes to sharing the Gospel, a condition that is threatening to both the Christian and to the unbeliever.  It is God’s instructions to us that represent a complete and total life, separate from the world and if we are not properly equipped to give such information to the dying, how can God treat the person accordingly?

Many of you know that I have been in the medical field for approximately three decades now, and during my tenure, I have witnessed some pretty “hairy” ordeals concerning the human body.  Working in the lab can be quite stressful sometimes but I can never say that my experiences have been dull and boring.  It is amazing what the human body can do to heal itself when called upon, but on the other hand, when the body’s defenses run into walls and needs help, the situations can become pretty gross and stinky.  Nothing more gruesome can be realized when in the early days of medicine the knowledge of the immune system and its mechanisms were primitive at best and when the body responded with a growth or infection many times certain death was right around the corner.

With modern techniques and medications, it is much easier to ascertain the answers that physicians need in order to treat their patient’s complaints.  However, in some circumstances infections require a little more in-depth information in order to provide the correct treatment so the physician will order a culture of the concerned area in order to find out exactly what is occurring.  If the body is producing invasive organisms the culture will result in tiny colonies of bacteria that can be differentiated with reagents and antibiotics.  However, as easy as this may seem the process of identification and bacterial growth can run into conditions that do not line up with the simplicities of science.

What is interesting about this insignificant growth pattern is that when the specimen is provided the laboratory personnel put the specimen on culture plates that are inoculated with the exact nutrients that those bacteria need to grow and reproduce.  While we initially do not know what the specific organism might be we can place them on a variety of plates that can narrow the gap in their identification.  Then the culture plates are placed inside an incubator with the correct humidity and temperature conditions.  All of these conditions provide the bacteria excellent conditions to grow and in most cases, these settings are far better than what the bacteria originally came from.  So, why would these perfect conditions yield such poor results?

It is this type of small or insignificant growth that leads to delays in treatment or ineffective treatment at best.  Most of the time the infectious bacteria that these issues produce result in a large amount of colonies which will allow the microbiologist to determine the final result that is needed for treatment.  However, this is not always the case and for a number of reasons the sample given to culture renders little or no growth even though it is evident that an infectious process is raging.  It is at this point that the physician cannot complete their task for the patient and further investigational contact must be initiated for therapy to work.  This is a frustrating process for both the clinician and the patient for it requires additional time needed to fix the needs of the patient. 

Of course, the patient will always ask what happened to the sample or why isn’t the medication not working with countless more other relative questions that have various explanations but all fall on deaf ears because the pain is still present.  It is difficult to diagnose the problem when the information given, requested, provided and spoken does not match up with what the patient is presenting.  The true patient that is in need of healing will seek out the best possible care in order to obtain their healthy status once again.  This poses a real concern for those individuals who fervently seek to provide the truth about what ails people.

While the physical healthcare system has its own advantages and disadvantages, one cannot receive the proper treatment unless the provisions for that patient are up-to-date and accurate.  Yes, sometimes the information given or specimen presented is not up to the perfect standards, but with the technology of today it should be easy to produce some type of result to guide the physician in their duties; however, there are sometimes that the information provided is not good enough and after the frustration levels reach a certain level, the patient goes elsewhere.  Do you realize that this type of frustration and lack of answers is also present in our spiritual lives as well?  So when people ask questions concerning their spiritual and eternal lives, the Church MUST have the most possible and CORRECT biblical information to give to these people.

A good example of this is when atheists approach Christians and “demand” answers from those who are supposed to be the doers of the Word.  Many times over I have watched bantering back and forth with no results towards the truth at all.  Once again frustration wins and the person who does not believe in God is strengthened in their stance because the church person cannot defend God’s Kingdom correctly.  It is this type of insignificant growth that is on display and until we change the settings, no major movement from God shall occur until He has to move His hand against His people.  In all truth, Christians have had centuries to pull it together, but it is obvious that we have not witnessed the light.

A bit of clarification here before we proceed and that is the difference between young growth and insignificant growth.  Young growth is a state where some type of bacteria has just begun to produce its reproductive colonies whereas insignificant growth means that the colonies that are present cannot be adequately defined due to its lack of full growth.  Young growth has potential and if provided with the correct nutrients can develop into the perfect state for identification.  Insignificant growth cannot be tested due to the lack of quality bacteria produced.  God understands the difference here and He is not talking about the young growth Christians, He is referring to the insignificant growth Christians who have been present in His house for decades and have refused to take to heart His Word.  We will be dealing with young growth in the next article, but a word of warning it will not be as it looks for God has a special word that He wishes to give to those who accept abortion at no cost.

The Church who represents insignificant growth has become a commonplace within our societies and one does not have to take a hard look in order to see this potential destructive condition.  The insignificant growth church reduces herself to the mercies of the world because she rejects the truth of her foundation, the Word of God.  An insignificant growth bacteria does not feed on the provided nutrients that make it grow, even though those nutrients are the best possible food source for bacteria.  The same occurs in the Church as well for it is the Word of God which serves as the perfect source of life and provisions that she needs to survive and thrive.  God cannot change His ways in any shape or form and through this truth, His Word cannot change either.  It is perfect, holy and pure from cover to cover and does not waiver one bit.  It is the Word of God that serves as the “culture plate” for the Church and for anyone who wishes to accept and know God.  The church itself can have a congregation of 10,000 strong but be spiritually dead; this is a perfect picture of an insignificant growth church.

If anyone accepts God as their Savior and seeks to live through His Covenant they shall receive all of the necessary ingredients from His Word in order to live a successful and gospel-filled life.  When the Church is at her peak she is able to be the true light to the world and represent God to His utmost through our spreading and teaching of His Word.  In order for the Church to complete this mission, she must first understand that she cannot have anything to do with the world and its deadly standards. God’s Word brings nothing but life if followed as much as our hearts can understand but it is the will to accept this godly wisdom and live it that makes the difference from an insignificant growth church and a full and living Church.

As long as the Church accepts the world and its standards there is absolutely NO WAY POSSIBLE that she can be anything other than an insignificant growth church.  God cannot accept any part of the world and as long as His children do the same He will eventually back off and allow their choice to be expanded through the kingdom that she chooses.  As stated above, it does not take too much looking to figure out that the Church of today is living in the insignificant growth lifestyle and it looks like she is not going to accept the pure nutrients of her “plated” foundation.  This is a very sad claim but God wants us to know that He sees our hearts and He understands the condition of our hearts and while He does not like our position He will continue to beckon her back to His fold for as long as possible.

An insignificant growth colony type will not look “healthy” per say.  The colonies will be small and weak in appearance.  While some bacteria will be present on the specific plates, there is a specific look that these bacteria will not have and their appearance will be totally different from a healthy group of bacterial colonies.  It is this appearance that a trained eye will immediately notice and while the microscope will still be used to look at the details of the bacteria, it is easily ascertained that the colony is not producing great quality.  Man, does this sound like the modern church or what?

An insignificant growth church is the perfect picture of a lukewarm church they are identical in their presentations.  They are useless to God and have no bearing or serve no meaning for His Kingdom.  When church denominations begin to accept the worldly devices don’t you have any suspicions concerning this activity?  It should raise a red flag immediately since Jesus, and God in the Old Testament, called us to be separate from the world.  How can one be separate if they are joined with another? The only way that the Church has allowed herself to be caught up in this lie is to not believe that the Word of God is not the absolute and true Word of God which automatically places us in the category of insignificant.  They have lost their way to the world and would rather understand its acceptance for publicity rather for their eternity.

If this is not bad enough, when we are insignificant in God’s eyes, that means all we can teach to others is the same type of quality, insignificant.  It also means that when combined with a pure foundation and then mix it with our own ideologies the output and product that we share is insignificant and useless to God.  Why?  Because we do not understand the true basics of His Word and we are making things up as we go; kind of reminds me of Eve when Satan asked her about the tree of good and evil. She had become comfortable enough with a lie that she was able to recite her own beliefs instead of God’s truth when questioned and thus our eternal and pure status became insignificant to our creation.

The ultimate grotesqueness of being classified as insignificant growth has two issues.  The first issue is that while given the specific details of how we are to respond to the world including every aspect that we need to incorporate the information into our lives so that we may complete this mission, we ignore the pure and holy source on the deepest human level while being dumbfounded as to why the Church is in controversy.  It is through this portion of the incomplete equation that the second issue comes into light.  While the first portion of this status is bad enough in the eyes of God but it is the second part that totally breaks the heart of God because if we would understand the first issue the second issue would not have to occur because the second part is reflective of the first part, just as God has His perfect order He must follow it.

The second issue contends that we should know that God’s Word is exact in its content and it is pure and holy in ALL areas.  While it is difficult to understand and then comprehend some of the actions and events that take place in His Word, God has given us the ability to trust Him for wisdom when it comes to these issues.  However, if we choose not to seek His Word and God for our knowledge concerning these difficult issues then there is no way possible for us to accurately hear and understand what God’s Word is saying. Therefore, if we do not continually study and seek God we cannot, by default, understand what will occur to our lives when things go wrong and we surely cannot understand why things go right in our lives either.

Over the past three decades or so there have been some events that have occurred in the world that our minds had a hard time understanding.  Some of these events were human derived and others were “natural” events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and tsunamis.  We are quick to pass off these incidents as circumstantial with no meaning behind their deeds but in reality what we are doing is trying to justify our opinions instead of understanding what really has occurred through our creation status.  If one believes that God is in control of everything – and He is – this means that He has allowed these events to occur. Instead of sitting around and trying to figure out why the person or group has committed a mass shooting how come we are not on our knees praying and seeking God and asking Him to show us what areas of our lives that we are not following Him?  It is through our inactions our insignificant growth that we are succumbing to the world’s antics and until we stop and listen to God’s voice again, we are going to see nothing but escalation of these events.

These events shall include natural disasters and if you do not believe that God will strike this nation down with a supernatural act through His creation the earth, you better study the Old Testament again because He has already performed such acts before; due to the choices of mankind.  It was through the insignificant growth acts of Adam and Eve that began this process and up until the moment that you read this article those insignificant growth acts are still in place.  This can only mean one thing, we continue to believe our enemy and his lies rather than following God’s Word as it was written for us.  Remember, God is a complete God on all sides of existence and for no reason can He change this status.

If and this is a BIG if, we would willingly lose our selfish ways and turn our hearts back to God we would not have to be under the rule of our enemy.  However, our problem is that due to our lack of understanding we are turning our hearts against God and actually labeling Him as the enemy.  Not knowing that what we are doing is not only proving God’s Word correct but also lining us up for a great catastrophe that is unimaginable.  Plus, when this great event occurs, whoever is left standing in a paralyzed state with their jaws gaped open and then have the audacity to ask God “why?”  “God would never allow something like this to occur to this nation”, oh yes He would because if He allowed it to occur to Israel you bet He would this place.

As an insignificant growth church progresses it can no longer call itself a separated church from the world for God’s Word is the source of all life and through this pure life there would be no reason for real growth to occur.  It is scary to believe that the church does not even recognize this aspect of her existence but if one has experience in the microbiology field this question could be raised as soon as the microbiology tech lays eyes on the stunted growth.  The Church does not even recognize the fact that it is through her complacency and lack of desire for God that has diminished her ability to push forward the Kingdom of God, and I would venture to say that her growth has been stunted so much that she no longer can even know what the Kingdom of God actually represents.

The Church has become so comfortable with the purity of spiritual growth conditions that God has supplied that she has become lazy in her entire presence.  She does not believe in the Word of God because if she did she would not be accepting of her condition.  God’s wish for His Church is for her to get her act together and get out of the nail salons and to dirty up her hands and feet again, just as the Bride is supposed to be.  God has shared with us a while back that His perfect Bride does not have fancy nails and “poofed” up hair with makeup on, it is a dirty and messy Bride who has been working in the fields of the world telling them about His love for them and that He is the only way to salvation.  No insignificant growth church would look dirty and messy she would be incomplete and too weak to complete this task. 

Do not misunderstand God here, for He still loves His Church and He wants nothing more than to see her live up to her potential once again.  But in order for her to return to the “C” again she must renounce her ties to the world and to completely shut the doors that she has opened with the world.  God’s heart aches for the lost and right at this moment it is evident that many in His Church are simply lost.  Turn back to God church and allow Him to restore us to the complete Church that He desires for us to be.  It is only through this pure and holy restoration process that we can be effective as we were originally created to live.  It may seem that God is being a little tough, but He knows that time is very short before He must change things and He desperately does not wish to act upon His completeness in that capacity.  Think about what God is sharing with us today.  God represents total life and He only can give total life and if we are not giving what we have received from Him then the problem lies within our hearts and not with God.  Wake up church for it is time for you to return to your Church status again.

DLB