Growth as a child of God; how is it measured?
One of the metaphors I was raised with that no longer serves me is the metaphor I refer to as, ” the steady, uphill climb.” It’s the idea that though the Way of Jesus is rocky and often challenging, a “successful Christian life” is marked by movement up the hill. Mapped on a bar graph we would see many ups and downs, but as a whole there would be definite movement upward. Toward God. The goal… to be like Christ. Sound familiar?
The central problem I am having with this metaphor is that it is my progress that seems praise worthy. The higher I climb, the better I feel about myself. At times this seems correspondent with a form of “spiritual self-actualization” . . . placing me and my growth at the center.
We measure our spiritual progress by counting the steps we’ve taken toward and away from God, and take for granted that, in the big picture, we’re always getting closer to Him. Yes, we worship God but if we were honest with ourselves we’d have to admit our own development is right up there.
In this metaphor God becomes the destination, while the journey is left largely in our individualistic hands. Something about making “Christ-likeness” as my goal is beginning to feel like a huge overstep. Christ likeness is not mine to produce. It seems to be that one becomes like another, by being with them. Faithful presence over time. Staying close. “Journeying with” more than journeying toward.
Allow me to propose another metaphor, (I would greatly appreciate feedback as to its soundness). Rather than a steady uphill climb to our destination (God), I propose we think of our journey with God as a dance.
In this dance God is the central character, for God is the one standing on the dance floor with an outstretched hand of invitation, inviting our response. The Divine is not a “one day” destination but our ever-present partner; dipping, leading, spinning, and wooing. The safest place for the dancer to be is in the arms of God. Struggles, difficulties, pain, joy, delight… these are just some of the many tunes God leads us to dance through. And as long as we abide in the embrace of the Divine it really doesn’t matter what the tempo is because we dance together. We are the Beloved’s and God is ours.
And so the question remains. How does a follower of Christ measure growth? My answer: we can’t. If that’s our question than we’re asking the wrong one. I don’t measure growth in my relationship with my life partner. If my relationship with my partner endures the stuff of life, we depend on each other, and we make it through life together then we’ve been successful. It is not that we don’t sometimes take a step back and celebrate God’s work in our life, but our focus is praise to God and not a scorecard of our points. So it is with God. Living life in dependence on God, and doing so until the Divine welcomes us home.
The dance of dependence. Jesus called it “abiding with”. Christ made it clear that the fruit is out of the hands of us as followers. Our only responsibility is to abide – to keep dancing – to stay close; Spirit does the rest. The Divine leads, stimulates growth, even produces the fruit. Just don’t walk away, cut yourself off, or go looking for a different partner. Our desire to see the fruit is a reflection of our desire to exalt ourselves. Let’s not take the credit for the growth of fruit in our lives, that is God’s doing… or something like that.
Peace, dwight
