This Commentary is rated “M” for maturing readers.
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go.” That book title registers with many younger, and even older, readers. It is the name of the last Dr. Seuss book published before the renowned author’s death. It came out in 1990. Our daughter Angela graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1991 and received a copy of the book from the resident counselor of Columbia Hall for her involvement in student government. It remains a treasured family possession.
KirklandThe book concerns the journey of life and its challenges. It is best known for a single line: “Will you succeed? Yes, you will indeed (99 3/4 percent guaranteed).”
In the United States and Canada, the Dr. Seuss book is a popular gift for students graduating from high school and college. It spikes in sales every spring with up to 300,000 copies sold every year.
Earlier this month, nearly 1,200 students graduated from South Carolina’s three Baptist universities – Anderson, Charleston Southern and North Greenville. They join thousands of others who receive diplomas at spring graduation. It’s a defining moment for each. It’s a benchmark for their intellectual, social and spiritual growth.
This Commentary focuses on spiritual growth, or the lack of it. I didn’t take full advantage of opportunities for spiritual growth in college, and I suspect many of today’s crop of graduates didn’t either. For any who didn’t, now is the time to set your life’s course toward the goal of greatest spiritual gain. For any who feel pretty good about their progress as Christian pilgrims, you’re not nearly done yet and will never be.
How much distance do you think you’ve covered toward the destination of spiritual maturity? You may have fallen miles behind some fellow believers who are on the same journey. But you’re probably way ahead of others, and maybe they’re trying hard to keep you in sight for encouragement to keep moving forward. Don’t forget them as you go.
In your God-guided trek toward being conformed to the image of Christ (that’s what the maturing of the soul is all about), run as often as you can, walk when it is necessary, and crawl if you must, but keep going, looking ahead to what awaits all who finish the race and are welcomed home by God with the words, “Well done.”
The apostle Paul, a seasoned traveler himself, gave instructions in the opening verses of Romans 12 that make for good reading as we stop for rest on our tiring trip. It can help us keep our focus on the road ahead when the landscape around us starts to look very appealing.
Paul had some things to say to the readers of his day that haven’t lost any of their punch for you and me today. The quote is from a plain language version of the Bible called The Message:
“Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
God indeed brings the best out of us, and that’s guaranteed, too. And he develops in each of us a “well-formed maturity.”
That’s what we’re striving for as followers of Jesus.
Paul was always reaching for the things ahead of him. He took no pride in past accomplishments and didn’t allow guilt of past and forgiven sins to impede his spiritual progress.
And neither should we.
Our eyes should point ahead, paying more attention to where we’re going rather than where we’ve been.
The route toward spiritual maturity is often difficult, and it never ends until we’ve drawn our last breath. We must walk by faith rather than by sight. We must never lose our trust in a loving God who knows where we’re going and how to get us there. It won’t always be comfortable. God doesn’t recognize our “comfort zones.”
Progress may not come easily, and some days we’ll see no signs of forward movement. We often grow spiritually the same way we grow physically – by the inch.
And by the way, no matter how old you are, you’re never excused from classes taught by the Master Teacher. In the early days of Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. The Gospels and the book of Acts refer to varying numbers of disciples (the word means “learners”) that range between 70 and 120 to a “growing multitude.”
You and I are members of that multiplying multitude which seeks to learn from the teachings of Jesus. As the proper diet for all who desire to grow spiritually, we should feed on the words of our Lord for spiritual nourishment.
At best, our lives are short as we look at the grand scheme of things, and often our lives are tragically cut even shorter. We must make the best of the days we have, following Jesus as Lord and Savior and “doing good” as we go about, just as he did. And we must make disciples as we go, continuing to increase the fold of the Good Shepherd.
And keep growing, keep traveling. Have I said that? Well, I’m saying it again. There will be blessings and buffetings along the way. There will be work to do and rest to take. Take advantage of both. Expect what one writer called “glories and humblings.” They serve to lift us up while keeping us grounded. You’ll climb spiritual mountaintops and trudge through deep ravines that are disagreeable at best and dangerous at worst. You’ll gain knowledge of God in Jesus Christ that you haven’t even begun to fully understand.
So keep traveling, as an old gospel song put it, “with the grace of God upon me and the Bible in my hand.” And oh, the places you’ll go spiritually.