Cycle of Going and Growing

Cycle of Going and Growing

Can you identify times in your life when you experienced a spiritual “growth spurt?” Do you recall the circumstances that led to that growth? Think about it, was it a time of comfortable complacency or were you outside your comfort zone? Did the growth come painlessly or was there emotional, spiritual, or even physical hurt associated with it?

It’s likely that by choice, or by chance, you faced a challenge of some kind that acted as a hammer and chisel, used by God, to shape you spiritually. It may have been the loss of a job, a relationship, a loved one or your health. Perhaps the challenge came voluntarily—a risk you chose to take that stretched you. When was the last time you took a growth-producing risk?
Our natural bent is to stick with the comfy; the familiar; the predictable. Every-so-often I run into people who can’t stand predictability and thrive on risk. They’re the exception. For them, choosing the mundane may actually be a growth experience. But for the rest of us, we tend to go to great lengths not to upset the apple cart, rock the boat or mess with the status quo. We shelter ourselves from the angst of the unknown. Nevertheless, I can think of very few times in my own life when I was forced to leave the familiar that did not result in growth.

In high school I left the familiarity of my childhood, mainline church denomination, became a born again Christian and began to grow spiritually. At 19, I left the comfort of home for a summer in Europe on a basketball/missions trip. That produced a quantum leap in my faith journey. I attended a Bible college knowing virtually nothing about the Bible or the school. God used it to enhance my spiritual formation. With fear and trembling, I taught my first Bible study to a group of Jr. High kids in 1976. To my surprise, a teaching and preaching ministry I could never have imagined was born.

That was just the beginning. As we get older, the list of potential growth-producing challenges lengthens. There’s marriage and kids and career and aging parents and in-laws and kids and added responsibilities and health issues and did I mention, kids? Of course, eventually there are the grandkids. With each added challenge, God gives us the choice to go and grow or stay and stagnate.

The cycle of going and growing is the process God uses to move you ahead in your walk with Him. To go means to face the challenge head-on; to set aside your fear of the unknown and be willing to venture out into the realm of faith. Every hero of faith in the Bible faced the challenge to go.

The classic example is Abram. In Genesis chapter 12 (later he becomes Abraham), God tells him to go “to a land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). Not even a name, address or zip to enter into MapQuest; just “a land.” Abram is 75 years old! He is no doubt hoping for the kind of predictability and comfort that many today seek in retirement at his age. His roots and relationships were established. Then God asks him to leave family and all that is familiar, “get out” and go. He was about to begin an epic cycle of going and growing. Where would our faith be if Abe had said “No!”? His faith and yours are inextricably linked.

Not only is he the “father” of believers (Romans 4:11-16), but just like Abram, as you grow in Christ God will tell you to go. As you choose to go, you will grow. And the cycle repeats. Is it happening in your life? If not, God hasn’t stopped it, have you? God will do His part as you and I choose to do ours. If they cycle has stopped, look back and identify the point at which you refused to go. When did you say, “No Lord, that’s simply too challenging; too painful; too uncomfortable; too inconvenient for me.”?

When missionaries visit our church we are exposed to people who did what Abram did. God said to them, “Go”—for some to a place, a culture and people unknown to them—and they went. We are inspired by their stories. We enjoy the festive décor and music, but most importantly, we are challenged to get going to get growing.


“‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’”
─Isaiah 6:8 NKJV