The great danger in the Church today - I see it at Cornerstone and the Church in general as much as I see it in my own life - is we'll miss or even avoid graduations in our spiritual lives by being busy. The spiritual phrase is: "an inch deep and a mile wide." We don't ever grow we just get busier doing spiritually looking - even very good - things. But God is looking forward to our graduations.
I spoke with some of the graduates after worship - a couple from high school and at least one from college. "How does it feel?" I asked. Each of them said in their own way that while they were excited there was also some feeling of: "O my, now there is greater responsibility. I'm feeling more like an adult." I remember that feeling.
God wants us to graduate - to take steps to grow spiritually; to step out of our comfort zone (the things we know we can do) and into the learning zone (the things we know we can't do without God's help). As long as we keep overly busy we can avoid those graduations. We can also avoid them by staying only in familiar territory.
Graduation is fun, exciting and causes anxiety. It's the gateway into new territory. I'm glad I graduated from High School and College and Seminary. I've been privileged to be part of too much wonderful God stuff since then to wish I was back there - as incredible as those times were. But now I recognize some areas that are in need of a graduation in my spiritual life:
- to new ways of studying scripture
- to new ways of relating with other pastors in the area
- to new ways of coaching my kids in their spiritual growth
...just to name a few. To stay in one place is not good - it's called stagnation. May we not stay there as individuals or as a church.
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