Mike Focht 4/25/2025
We will only grow as we follow Jesus. This truth is essential to recognize because our world is filled with man-made manuals, testimonies, and methods for spiritual growth. One of the main problems with human-oriented methods is that they put someone other than Jesus in the lead. Looking to another human for methods removes our focus from following the all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful Jesus to the testimony of another weak, ignorant, and fallible sinner.
Jesus called twelve disciples, but His work in each of their lives was unique. Their path of growth was designed and enacted by Jesus. Day by day, they simply followed Him, and He led them to the situations and circumstances they needed to become the men He would use to glorify Himself.
It never worked out well when the disciples decided to do their own thing—asking Jesus to bless their personally constructed plans. They wanted to send people away, call down fire from heaven, stay when they needed to go, go when they needed to stay, keep children away, begin the kingdom immediately, and save Jesus from dying on the cross. When they took the lead, their spiritual growth culminated in Jesus’ loving but firm correction. When they followed Jesus and did what He said, their growth took place with much less friction.
Our path of growth is still the same. We cannot follow Jesus by sight as the twelve did but can be led daily through the work of the Holy Spirit. That is how Jesus will lead us to the joys and sorrows, triumphs and trials, victories and battles, sufferings and blessings that we need to become who He would have us to be. He may sometimes use other people, but only Jesus can be the Potter of my spiritual life because only Jesus knows what type of vessel He is forming me into. That is why I cannot follow any other man’s instruction for my personal growth. I must allow Jesus to curate my path of spiritual maturity. I am the follower. He is the Leader.
The failure to recognize this subtle distinction is why some Christians are frustrated in their spiritual growth. They are stunted or withering because they ran ahead of Jesus. They are trying to do spiritual calculus when God the Father wants them to sit down and work on subtraction. They are trying to have the spiritual experiences of other men and women when Jesus wants them to experience something else. They are trying to emulate another human’s timeline when the Holy Spirit’s pace is slower or faster. Even if the motive of spiritual growth is sincere, it is not up to us to choose where or how the Holy Spirit forms us into the image and likeness of Christ.
Some people seek to grow in their public spiritual gifts, and Jesus is trying to teach them humility at home. Others want somebody to recognize them for leadership, and Jesus is seeking to teach them to respond to mockers with patience. Others want to grow in their giving of money, and God wants them to grow in their giving of time. Others are looking to grow in their knowledge of prophecy, and Jesus wants to instill His heart of compassion. Some are even desperately striving to be free of some battle with sin, and Jesus is teaching them to lean on His grace and sufficiency. The place where God is currently working our spiritual growth most profoundly is often the place we didn’t ask or seek to be made pure and healthy. Growing pains are common physically and spiritually.
We will never grow if we are constantly trying to take the lead in the way spiritual growth works. We must surrender to the reality that God has placed us where He wants us to be and seek to grow right where we are in our current state of spirituality and circumstances. We don’t need someone else’s manual to do that. We need God’s Word and a prayerful spirit. Where does Jesus have us today? Don’t try to pick up the latest book promising to teach you how to grow where you most want to grow. Those people—though they may be true and godly saints—have no idea what God wants to accomplish in your life. Pick up the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit how you are to follow Jesus Christ right where He has you.
It is impossible to lead yourself to spiritual maturity. Like Peter before us, we must follow the Leader. What is that to you? You follow Me.