As I was entering my health club the other day, it hit me. I was on a seek-and-conquer, take no prisoners’ mission. I was wearing my no-nonsense black shirt and baseball cap and had packed my iPod with pump-up tunes, an extra towel and Gatorade. My plan of attack for my workout was already thought through during the morning prep and drive over. And there was no humbleness in my spirit as I raced to park my truck close to the building and pushed past a slow moving guy, almost bumping him aside, to get through the door fast. Truth be told, this was not just a weird morning or a mistake. This was premeditated!
The build-up had started the week prior when two disturbing things had happened. The first was stepping on a real scale at the doctor’s office to see that I was not quite at the weight where I thought I was (ok, ok I was way off that weight!). The second was a heart-felt question from my seven year-old son asking, “Daddy, will you be too old to play catch with me when I’m in high school?” Yikes. Wake-up calls are never pleasant. But these did their magic as a new resolve regarding my health and physical life came over me. I needed to take action and be much more intentional about things, including premeditated workouts. So that’s why I had a plan and was in attack mode entering my health club that day.
I often wonder why I am not premeditated in my spiritual life.
I seem to be just the opposite and take a random approach instead. I show-up to church most weekends, read a popular Christian book on vacation, get together with church friends when I can, give money to causes here-and-there, pray when the spirit moves me…all good things but random acts to be sure. In recent years I have come to know that it is my responsibility for my own spiritual growth. That together with the Holy Spirit I am able to affect my spiritual life. So I know that it is up to me. Scary! And that surfaces something huge that is missing. And I think it is what is missing for many others who also seem to be on the random approach to their spiritual life.
What is missing is the transfer of knowledge for how I should take action. To grow, we need to know three things: Where am I now, where do I want to be in the future and what are my next steps to get there. From my health club story one can see the first two of these aspects. The scale pinpointed where I was. My son’s desire for me to be physically fit during his high school years cast a vision for where I want to be. But what is not readily apparent from the story is the fact that I actually know how to take the action steps in my physical life necessary to go from here to there. You see over the years there has been a transfer of knowledge and repeating cycles of success that specific types of workouts at my health club, certain food combinations, targeted sleep hours, and the like are the most effective for me. This has led to hope and a level of confidence that if I get intentional and follow the right plan of action, it will lead to the desired outcome of being healthier and more physically fit in the future.
By contrast in the past in my spiritual life, the first two growth requirements were fuzzy at best – knowing where I am spiritually with any kind of precision and internalizing the future beyond phrases such as having the fruit of the spirit evident in my life. Worse still was that the third requirement, being confident in an approach and next steps that will work for me, was completely absent. When I don’t understand my situation or what I am supposed to do, it’s natural to be led along by whatever is interesting or in my face in the moment. And tah-dah, the random approach reigns.
Assuming there is at least a little faith, the missing ingredient is personal knowledge for directing one’s own spiritual development. In many churches, teaching and Bible lessons from the pulpit are not translating into personal knowledge in the pew. We need a new approach and supporting tool to help each of us personally take charge of our growth, every day. The new spiritual transformation system for a church, called Engage, has been developed to meet this need. It has great potential for all of us. Because similar to my physical life, I want a vibrant spiritual life and a close relationship with Christ. I desire to personally know how to direct my development and am willing to exert effort. One of my favorite quotes from Dallas Willard is, “transformation requires intentionality.” I can own and be intentional about my growth when I have a personal understanding of what to do.
I now use Engage to take charge of my spiritual development as it helps me to know where I am, where I want to be in the future and which next steps to take to get there. But I’m biased. Whether you leverage Engage or some other approach offered at your church, I challenge you to consider what it would take for you to increase your knowledge and intentionality of your spiritual growth. To become premeditated in the things you do each week to love God and love others more.
With God, moving forward.
Craig Terrill (@craigterrill)
Leader of Engage
COO USA & Innovation Guy, WCA
