“Over time,” Stan began, “I’ve asked a lot of people about their faith walk. How it got started, how it has progressed, and the like.”
“A lot can be told by a person’s response to that question,” he continued. “Some people don’t really even understand the question. They ask what I mean by a ‘faith walk’? Others have a vibrant answer, while there are a lot who have an answer somewhere in between.”
“Different paths for different people,” I responded.
“I don’t think so,” Stan replied. “I think there’s one path, with different degrees of commitment to walk it.”
“In any event,” he continued, “I like to hear the different answers people have to that question. I had a discussion with a neighbor about that last night. He had a story to tell about six words that changed his life.”
“Six words?” I asked. “What six words?”
“He told me that after he became a Christian, he had the common experience of not moving down the path from his conversion towards greater spiritual maturity.”
“Stuck on conversion!” I replied.
“Exactly,” Stan replied, “but he said that one day he was reading in John’s gospel about where Jesus was talking with His disciples. Jesus was getting ready to go to the cross to finish what His Father had sent Him to do.”
Continuing, he said, “My neighbor told me that something Jesus said jumped off the page and the Holy Spirit made it real clear that he needed to change.”
“What in the world did Jesus say that caused that? I asked.
“The last six words of the fourteenth chapter of John,” Stan replied. ‘Arise, let us go from here’.”
Continuing, he added, “My neighbor said those six words awakened in him the truth of it being time for him to move from where he was into a deeper relationship with God. A deeper faith walk as he arose and moved on from where he was to where God wanted him to be.”
Concluding, Stan said, “I think this is another instance of how important it is to read the Bible while being totally open to what the Holy Spirit has to say about what is being read. You never know when a short sentence from God may change everything!”
“Be ready to move on!”
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Arise, let us go from here. John 14:31.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your provision of life eternally with you when it’s time. Thank you, too, for the opportunity to know you and your Son more deeply on this side of eternity through the pursuit of spiritual maturity. I confess that it took me too long to begin to go down the path you intended. And I confess that too often I do not proceed on that path because that is what I choose. Please forgive me. And please, Father, help me in following every step of your lead so I go from where I am to where you intend for me to be in my relationship with you. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Where are you on the path towards greater spiritual maturity? Have you heard the voice of the Holy Spirit saying, “Arise, let us go from here”? What would it look like for you to go from “here” to “there”? What are the reasons for moving on? What reasons are there for not doing so? If you are moving down that path, do you have a story to tell about what led you to start moving? If so, tell it to others as encouragement for them.
Waiting for the Train 