Maybe it’s because we’re being polite. Perhaps it could be that we’re not used to doing that way. Whatever it is, it bugs me.
There were three of us and two of us were already believers when the third guy became a part of the mix. By part of the mix it started with occasionally visiting services. It grew from there to him hanging around with us and then he started to take his own faith seriously.
That was three years ago. My initial friend and I moved on, but this guy stayed where he was. The three of us stayed in touch and still talk regularly. At one point, my friend and I marvelled at this guy. It was clear he had made progress in his faith. Not just by the things he was saying, but by how he was taking his responsibilities that bit more seriously. It was clear in his other close relationships as well. God was more central to his life and he had no qualms about sharing his faith when the opportunity came.
The growth was evident to anyone who was with him through those years. It wasn’t as though it was smooth sailing in his life. We witnessed him endure challenging times and significant setbacks, but it didn’t knock him off his faith. He was willing to learn lessons and crucially remained keen to learn. He is the first guy I would point to as someone who had grown in his faith and clearly made progress.
This can be contrasted with others I knew who claimed to know Jesus for a lot longer than this guy. They had been well churched and heeled on the conventions and norms of church life, but as to actual spiritual growth there was little to point to that would indicate that their relationship with Jesus had changed them in any discernible way. Well churched though they were, it didn’t appear as though they had been challenged about what life in Christ was meant to show in terms of growth, change, transformation and marks of being more and more like the one they followed.
That bugged me.
It wasn’t enough that it bugged me that they were allowed to continue in their virtual comfort blanket of a faith of convenience. It bugged me to see what I could do, by God’s grace, to effect change. Effect change at least in the relational dynamic. If the relationship offered the opportunity then the practice of brotherly agitation would be used to stimulate some of these comfortable types to at least discover that following Jesus wasn’t primarily about comfort.
It’s something that I could relate to because in His mercy, God had strategically located men in my life who did that with me. They wouldn’t let me just settle for the status quo and believe that following Jesus was about reaching a plateau where it would be all good with me and Jesus just chilling in this heavenly realm. They would stir me, challenge me, provoke me and where necessary call me out on any aspect of complacency and accompanying apathy. Achieving in Christ was good, but the ongoing renewing of the mind and the commitment to keep growing in knowing in Jesus had to remain at the forefront of what it was to follow Jesus.
So when I communicate with that guy who has made huge strides in his life of following Jesus, I know that in itself is a challenge for me to keep growing. It’s a challenge for me to also encourage those in my sphere of influence to keep growing as well. And that growth should at some point give clear signs showing progress.
(Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 