31st May 2025 Question box

Today’s question is such an important one:

How to get out of spiritual rut? Even if you don’t feel like doing so – I know I’ve contradicted myself but you know what I mean.

Wow, thanks for that. We do know what you mean! And you know what? It is possible to have internal contradictions in your life. See as a human, you are not just your feelings. Your heart is also at work through your mind, how you think through things. And your will – the choices you make. And your conscience – how you evaluate things. The fact that you’re here, and your willing to put this as a question in the box suggests that there is some part of you that wants to get out of this rut, even if the feelings aren’t cooperating at the moment.

Hey the letter to the Hebrews is written to a community who were stuck in a bit of a spiritual rut. And it takes their situation seriously. Near the start of the letter the writer says: “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1). And so the writer uses a two pronged strategy to try and get them out of the rut:

First, he explores Jesus, and the work of Jesus from a whole lot of different angles as he explains:

• How Jesus is the son of God,
• how he’s fully human,
• how he brings us into a place of rest,
• how he’s our priest,
• how he’s our sacrifice,
• and so many other angles…

And he’s willing to intellectually stretch them. If you’re in a rut, then I’m guessing that’s because you remember a time when you looked to Christ in faith and you went “wow!” And so what will get you out of a the rut is to get a fresh glimpse of the glory of Christ.

But then practically, how are you going to get that fresh glimpse of Christ’s glory? You might be tempted to go searching for some new way of worshiping, some new kind of spiritual experience… But what the writer to the Hebrews encourages is for you to just persevere in that we might call the ordinary means of grace. For example he talks about:

• carefully listening to God’s word (Hebrews 3:7),
• getting together and encouraging one another (Hebrews 3:12-13),
• prayer: approach the throne of grace to ask for help – you cant get yourself out of the rut just your own strength, you need the strength that God provides (Hebrews 4:16),
• and praising God (Hebrews 13:15)

Look sometime feelings can be stubborn things. When our feelings are pulling us toward Christ, it’s a wonderful thing. But when they are not, you need use your mind, and make choices that will give your feelings a chance to get back on board.

If you wrote that question, or if you resonate with that question, maybe we could catch up for coffee sometime. I’d love to encourage you and pray with you.

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This question was originally answered in our evening service on 8 December 2024. I’ll aim to post another question and answer next week. You can read about how our question box works here.