During the summer of 1976 I worked as a breakfast cook in Grand Teton National Park. My days-off were spent hiking the canyons of those spectacular mountains. My most memorable hike was a 25-mile hike up Cascade Canyon to Hurricane Pass, across Alaska Basin and back down Death Canyon. Ten years ago, at age 62, I took a 40th anniversary hike back to Hurricane Pass. I backpacked 32 miles in three days and two nights. I learned some lessons along the way. Here are three.
First, like hiking, spiritual growth requires stepping out of your comfort zone. The older I get, the more I’m inclined to cling to familiarity, routine, and “personal peace.” I don’t like change. I don’t find myself seeking out challenges. This tends to make my life, well, boring. But that’s not the real problem. The problem is I’m too often happy to be bored. After all, boredom implies the absence of conflict and stress. Boredom sometimes feels like rest. That’s why my return to the Tetons was important for me. Embracing the challenge of that hike forced me out of my comfort zone. I had to plan. I had to make time for conditioning hikes. I had to endure a lot of discomfort and sore muscles. It wasn’t always fun. But it was invigorating! Embracing a goal I wasn’t certain I could accomplish added a fresh sense of purpose to my routine.
It works the same way in our walk with Christ. When we constantly choose the path of least resistance we stop growing. When we stop growing our sense of purpose and joy are diminished. In what way is God calling you to step out of your comfort zone today? Is He calling you to minister to children? To witness to a co-worker? To give sacrificially? To make time for Bible study and prayer? To walk away from a relationship that doesn’t please Him? To serve Him in ways you’ve never served before? Is God calling you to confront a child or a fellow Christian concerning their self-destructive sin? Embrace the challenge! It won’t be easy. But in the end, you won’t be sorry. Stepping out of your comfort zone in obedience to God infuses meaning into your life. God will use you and you’ll know His pleasure. Never forget, worldly comfort is for a moment. God’s joy never ends.
Second, like hiking, spiritual growth is a process that requires effort! At the beginning of that summer, I was physically incapable of taking that hike I’d scheduled for August. I began to take weekly conditioning hikes in the Wasatch mountains of Utah. My first conditioning hike was a 6-mile round trip up Grandeur Peak. I barely made it and, frankly, came close to barfing. The following three hikes didn’t go much better. Even so, I kept at it and gradually things improved. By the end of July, I was ready for my return to the Tetons.
Christian growth works the same way. It’s a process that requires effort. When God gives us His Spirit, He gives us everything we need for spiritual growth (2 Peter 1:3-4). But growth won’t happen if we remain passive (2 Peter 1:5-8). We must exercise our spiritual muscles. Growing stronger means working at prayer. It means working at studying God’s word and applying it to our lives. It means actively pursuing righteousness and obedience in our lives and our walks with Jesus—even when we don’t feel like it! Nonetheless, there’s joy in it. Are you actively engaged in the process of your own spiritual growth?
Finally, like hiking, spiritual growth works best when we don’t walk alone. We addressed this in a recent blog but it’s worth saying again—the Christian life is a community life. The believer who intentionally walks alone is destined to fail. On my return to the Tetons, I would never have reached Hurricane Pass without the encouragement of my wife, Nancy, and Lucas, my associate pastor and friend. Both took conditioning hikes with me. On one hike Lucas literally picked me up when I stumbled and fell (getting older has its challenges). On another hike he ran back down the trail to the car for water when I became seriously dehydrated. He accompanied and encouraged me on the trail to Hurricane Pass. I would not have reached my destination without him.
In the same way, Ephesians 4:15-16 makes it clear that the only way we grow in Christ is for all of us to grow in Him together. Paul writes, …speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Just like a good, hard hike—walking with Jesus isn’t necessarily easy in the moment. But, in the end, it’s rich beyond imagination. Never fear when God calls you to step out of your comfort zone. Engage in the process of your own spiritual growth. And, finally, remember that the Christian life is a community life. Don’t try going it alone.
Dean
Thanks for reading. If you have questions or comments, please email me at deanpshriver@gmail.com. Past blog posts can be read at www.deanshriver.com.