“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same images from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
How are you being transformed? What ways are you becoming more reflective of the glory of the Lord?
Starting the race, my number 1 goal was to make sure I came back a better person than I was when I left. My biggest fear was that I would come back from 15,800 dollars worth of traveling and I would have nothing other than passport stamps and a fat camera roll to show for it. I had a “get busy living or get busy dying” kinda attitude going into month 1. I’m halfway through my race now and I can confidently say that I have grown so much.
I did not realize how much depth the idea of growth has until I was in the middle of it. It goes past any actions or attributes that you can see from the outside looking in. True growth only comes from the Spirit and true growth is only visible through how reflective of the Lord we are. True growth can be scary. It requires a willingness to fully let go and give complete control back to the Creator. To let Him mold us in whatever way He deems fit. It can be simple, but sometimes it’s complicated. It can feel good, but sometimes it hurts. It can be easy, but sometimes it’s so difficult. But it will always be worth it and if it is truly the Holy Spirit that’s growing you then it will always be good. God is the only true frame of reference for absolute good so growth has to be based solely on Him. Since true growth is God-centered, then there should be no pressure behind it. It can only happen as quickly or as slowly as God decides. We have to put in the work for it, but it only occurs on God’s timing.
I am no expert in the philosophy or theology or psychology of growth, but these past couple of months have made me realize that I have such a heart for it. The culture of the world race is one that fosters growth, and that is a big reason why I love race culture so much. This comes from a lot of different aspects of the race, all of which aren’t the flashy or exciting things that we post on Instagram about. The race requires us to have team times almost every night of the week where our teams are encouraged to be vulnerable and intimate and intentional with each other or with the Lord. The race has a system of feedback where we are forced to say hard things to each other in order to call each other to be more reflective of God’s good character. My race has incredible leadership that called our squad to buy into these more mundane aspects of the race because that’s where the growth happens. I am so thankful for these parts of the race, but it’s ironic because those are all the things that we don’t need to be across the world to do. This also gets me excited because I can bring this culture home with me. I can show it to everyone in my life and pray that my own change will be enough evidence for them to accept it and try it out for themselves. And if these things don’t foster growth for them then I hope that it motivates them to find what does work for them.
I also realize that a lot of times people are not in a state where they can grow. I have been through times in my life where I wanted to make myself better but I had sins or other burdens holding me down. In middle school I felt consumed by self-hatred. I was overwhelmed with thoughts of unworthiness and self-deprecating thoughts during almost any moment of solitude in that time. I didn’t want that, but I felt like I couldn’t change myself. I felt like those thoughts had me beaten. I felt chained down and helpless, but that was not the truth. God can always work through it. God can bring us out of any sin or any chains. Where the Spirit is there is freedom. I don’t want to talk about growth without at least acknowledging that some people think their chains make it impossible for them. You can still grow despite sin. Sometimes if we focus on that one particular sin that we can’t shake too much then we think we are defined by it. God doesn’t see us by our sins so why should we? We see the sins in our lives as scary things that we run from. Running from our sins doesn’t get us anywhere. We need to run with a destination in mind. Get away from our sins by running to Jesus. Growth is just the process of us getting closer and closer to Jesus.
I have gotten to the point where the idea of growth brings me excitement, not fear. I am so pumped thinking about the person God is transforming me into. I can’t even imagine what we would all be like after 50 years of God making us look like more of Him, degree by degree. Growth is something that I love thinking about. It gives purpose and passion to how I live my life.
Thanks God for helping us out of the places we got ourselves into and for helping us work towards becoming the people you made us to be.
