In this set of three blogs, I have chosen to look at what I see as three levels of growth in the life of the follower of Christ. In recognizing different levels of growth along with the good aspects as well as the areas to watch out for, we can be more aware of what this journey of maturity looks like and better able to manage our expectations as well as the expectations of those we lead on this journey.

In my last blog I outlined the “steady level” with its benefits as well as its potential pitfalls.

In this writing, I want to address what I am referring to as the “Giant Step” level. This level is the growth that is exciting and fun to be a part of, both for yourself as well as those you lead.

If you have been intentionally engaging in your journey of faith for any significant length of time, you are well of aware of those times when things seemed to click in what was a moment of revelation. It was as if God showed up in person and brought clarity to some aspect of faith that was so amazing.

I’ve had moments in reading scripture during my regular devotional time when it was as though the words from a verse rose off the page and came alive in ways that I had never experienced before. All of a sudden I understood something that changed my way of thinking and led to a new way of living. These scriptural revelations often resonate in my mind for weeks if not months as I am eager to share this new found insight with others. It is energy that you can live off for a long time.

I recall one of my seminary classes on the book of Luke. The prof who led us through it made it come alive in ways that I had never before realized. And in a way I felt like I had become a Christian all over again, like I had been re-saved. Now I know theologically speaking that that wasn’t the case, but I fell in love with Jesus in a whole new way – it was amazing, a giant step forward.

I’ve been able to experience these moments with the guys that I am privileged to come alongside. There will be moments when we get together that one of the guys will take over our meeting even before we’ve sat down. He just has to tell us about how God met him the past week, how the scriptures came alive in a new way, how his prayers went to a whole new level, how his marriage or parenting relationships moved in new and great direction as a result of our learning and praying together – a giant step forward.

I love these moments. I’d love to have them every day. To experience the emotional high that so often accompanies them. To live on these mountain tops, hopping to a new one on a regular basis. A let me be clear, these moments are so often springboards to new levels of faith and life, and they are meaningful and very relevant to our journey of faith. Embrace them fully.

And yet there are two “beware of” notes that I’d like to make here.

First, you can’t plan them, they just happen. You can’t manipulate them into taking place. I’ve watched many people try to create these “God moments”, to get one every week on a scheduled basis, to pretend that they are experiencing one just to enjoy the emotional high that can come from them. You can’t do this. They are God ordained that so often come from the simple ongoing commitment to regular spiritual disciplines. Fail to engage in these and you’ll miss out on the depth that a “giant step” can bring to you. At times these steps have occurred every few weeks for me, and at times they haven’t shown up for over a year, I just never know. Yet I am so amazed and thankful when they do jump out at me, they are fun to experience.

Second, mature from them, don’t waste them. Taking a giant step forward so often entails the hard work of building foundations under the new revelation, to learn to engage in new activities so that the reality of the learning becomes engrained in who you are. Too many people that I connect with have had some amazing God moments of growth that I truly do believe was the Spirit moving in them, and yet they so often don’t take the next step in doing the hard work of maturing, they just look for the next big revelation, the next emotional high to live off of. It is sad to watch people of faith live like this and miss out on the life change that really could have been theirs to experience.

The “Giant Step” level of growth, embrace them, learn from them, and move forward.

Next: Great Leap level.

For the Kingdom.