I look up to my son Nathan. I have to he’s much taller than me now. Most of his life I’ve looked down on him which somehow I found that more reassuring. I don’t know what his mother and I did to get Nathan so tall. Maybe we fed him too much when he was growing up. Probably though his growth is the result of some natural process handed down from our ancestors which helped him out a lot more than me.

If only spiritual growth were so easy! Some people seem to think it is. For those folks praying occasionally and maybe even attending church events once in a while seems to satisfy their spiritual requirements. Never was that easy for me. Maybe it’s because of my personality disorder but feeling God’s presence in my life has never been easy. There’s more than once I’ve even wondered if God existed at all.

First of all I’m not very good at praying. Just as I’ve always been envious of people born with athletic ability or intelligence, folks who can zip right into prayer that inspires not only themselves, but even others, make me feel like a spiritual mouse. I know God has answered some of my prayers in powerful ways. Most of the time I have to remember Jesus’ command to keep praying even if it feels like God is never going to answer to door.

Second it’s hard for me to get a handle on the fact that Christian spiritual growth comes from giving and not receiving. I think this reality confuses a lot of folks who have been brain washed by consumer culture into believing that God is Santa Claus. People who have been going, or not belonging, to church for years because they expect to get something. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the Creator who has loaned us life and the place that we live in, not to mention has grace enough to endure just being around us in the first place, to expect us to give something back in return.

Real spiritual growth doesn’t happen through individual effort. We have all done a lot of damage to ourselves and everything around us. That’s why the first step to be a recovering sinner is to acknowledge we can’t do it on our own. We need the support and guidance of others around us who realize they are just as messed up as we are. We need to be actively involved in small groups because that’s where most spiritual growth occurs.

It’s no accident Jesus would rather spend his time with some of the most despised people of his time than the good church going folk. As soon as we convince ourselves we’re good, or even more shameful, better than someone else, we’ve opened the doors to Hell.

I remember reading a sermon in seminary where the preacher remarked: If Jesus had come today instead of 2,000 years ago he would have looked down from his cross and wondered: ‘If you people are so good what the hell am I doing up here?”

When someone says they’re not sure if they would fit into our church, we need to be ready to respond ‘of course you would, they accept me.’ When someone shows up to a church event who may make us uncomfortable we need to remember that Jesus said unless we forgive (accept) others God will not forgive (accept) us. The courage to live this way is what real spiritual growth is all about.

by Monty Keeling 2007