217: Reflections – Become Good Soil Foundations Series (Part 12)

“The economy of the kingdom of God is quite simple. Every new step in the kingdom costs us everything we have gained to date. Every time we cross a new threshold, it costs us everything we now have. Every new step may cost us all the reputation and security we have accumulated up to that point. It costs us our life. A disciple is always ready to take the next step. If there is anything that characterizes Christian maturity, it is the willingness to become a beginner again for Jesus Christ. It is the willingness to put our hand in his hand and say, "I'm scared to death, but I'll go with you. You're the Pearl of great price."

—John Wimber

Friends, what if Christian maturity looks different than we imagine?

We often think maturity means arriving. Becoming more certain, or more capable. More established. More secure. Yet the way of Jesus seems to reveal something altogether different.

Again and again, the Kingdom invites us to become beginners.

Every new threshold asks us to release what we have accumulated in order to receive what God is offering next. Every invitation into deeper life requires fresh trust. Fresh surrender. Fresh dependence upon the Spirit of God.

Perhaps this is why humility has so often been misunderstood. Humility is not weakness, self-deprecation, or thinking less of ourselves. Rather, it is strength harnessed and vulnerability unfurled—the willingness to entrust ourselves again and again to the love and leadership of God.

In this next episode of the Become Good Soil Foundations Series, we pause to reflect on the journey we've shared together over the past several months. Review is one of the great gifts of apprenticeship. It allows us to notice where the Spirit has been at work, to celebrate the ground already gained, and to recognize the next frontier inviting our wholehearted consent.

We invite you to resist the temptation to measure progress by certainty or accomplishment. Instead, perhaps ask a simpler question:

Where is Jesus inviting me to become a beginner again?

For it is often there—in the place of open hands, surrendered strength, and courageous vulnerability—that the Kingdom becomes most available and the life of Christ most fully formed within us.

It's all been prologue. The best is yet to come.

For the Kingdom,

Morgan & Cherie