Maintaining Momentum

The other day in reading one of Ravi Zechariah’s books he presented a thought on maintaining spiritual growth. Maintenance and growth almost seems a contradiction of terms. His analogy was that of a person trying to lose weight, a subject I can relate to very well as I’ve been fighting the battle of he bulge since I was a kid.

As a dieter we all have a goal…a weight we hope to attain. The problem with so many dieters’, me included, is that after we reach a certain goal if we are not diligent in maintaining, in a short period of time, we will put back on all the weight we lost. The endless cycle of weight loss and gain is wearisome. It’s truly euphoric to attain a weight loss goal, but it takes constant vigilance to maintain that victory. In fact, in some ways it takes more discipline to maintain that which we have attained and, through diligence, the discipline of maintenance in reality leads to growth, not in terms of pounds or kilos, but growth in discipline and life style habits.

There are many things that fall into this category of maintenance for growth. One example is learning language. I quickly learned the basics of Swahili. It’s a temptation of all cross-cultural workers to learn “just enough” to get by. By attaining basic communication, too many missionaries stop learning new vocabulary and grammar. I have a friend in Kenya whose Swahili is as bad today as it was 30 years ago. Yes, he can communicate, but to listen to him speak is torture. The nationals who know him well can figure out what he’s saying, but even they wonder why he is still butchering the language.

On a spiritual level, we all know that we will never attain complete and total understanding of God or His Word. I’ve been a Christian for over 50 years, but having seniority in the faith doesn’t mean I’m automatically a spiritually mature person. Only through a lifetime habit of prayer and study of His Word will I maintain my spiritual journey and through that maintenance I grow. Conversely, if I don’t maintain my spirituality I will digress into sinful and destructive behavior. Perhaps that is what the Apostle Paul means when he writes, “Work out your own salvation.”

Whether it’s a weight level, our relationship with family and friends, learning a language or striving to live in a way that is Christ honoring, we must realize we never attain, but we can succeed if we actively maintain.