Doing All Right

Sometimes I feel stuck in my spiritual growth. I find I get to certain “plateaus” of comfort and just stay there. My sins aren’t too bad and my struggles aren’t too hard. I’m not growing, but I am “doing all right.” The effort or obedience needed to move to the next level is more than I am willing to pay or that I know how to give. The world around me doesn’t help much with this. In the area of spiritual growth, we tend to be far too easy on ourselves: “Well, not everyone can be Mother Teresa, you know!”

I considered running in the House of Hope 5k this weekend. My exercise schedule is erratic at best, but I had said that I wanted to run in a 10k before I turned 50 (which is rapidly approaching). When we talk about sports or physical fitness goals, very few of us discourage each other. We know how to “spur one another on” in these areas. In fact, many of us hire personal trainers to help us move along in our journey. We have nutrition consultants, financial advisers, insurance agents and even relationship experts to help us attain bigger and better things. But who do we turn to for encouragement in our spiritual life? In the area of spiritual growth, far too many of us are going it alone. We quietly struggle and eventually find a spiritual comfort zone that keeps us satisfied but is no longer productive.

I am convinced that this is where small groups and one-on-one relationships come in. We tend to see small groups as places to feed our minds. We learn in fairly academic ways more stuff about God and the Bible. But rarely do we “get in the room” together and talk about where we are growing, where are not growing and what we can do to spur one another on. I am going to tell you a secret: The reason far too many of us are stuck spiritually is a lack of intimacy. It takes intimacy with God and intimacy with other people to continue to grow spiritually. This is why Jesus said that all of the commandments are summed up in two simple relational statements: Love God with all you have and love each other as you want to be loved.

When two or more people learn to trust each other, intimacy can develop. Intimacy leads to vulnerability and vulnerability allows for loving accountability. The enemy of this is fear. Fear of being rejected. Fear of exposure. And fear of what it would look like to be more like Jesus. I guess if I want to get unstuck, I am going to have to face my fears and learn how to love. After all, love casts out fear.