People often ask me how I manage the long international flights required by our great ministry work. My quick answer is, “I try to NOT think about it.” While that helps a bit on long ministry trips, it is not a good strategy for the journey of life.

Our spiritual lives need our thoughts if we are to do more than just drift with the tides of the times. We need to be navigators on the journey if we are to grow into the men and women God intends us to be.

Writer and theologian Paul David Tripp says we are all on a spiritual journey from foolishness to wisdom. God began a good work in us when we placed our hope and trust in Him. As the Apostle Paul reminded the Philippians,

I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Philippians 1:6 NLT

No, we have not yet reached full maturity. Even the Apostle admitted this when he said he had not “arrived.” Yet he was striving toward the goal of God’s high calling. So should we.

Paul David Tripp mentions five things we should work on, five behaviors we need to give attention to, if we are to be successful in growing and developing toward becoming more and more like Jesus.

  1. Stay cynical toward your own wisdom. Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us not to lean on our own understanding. Our “wisdom” is finite. God’s wisdom is infinite.
  2. Stay hungry for more. Mark Cole of John Maxwell Leadership says, “[God] is not a distant deity, but a loving Father who calls us to walk with Him in trust, obedience, and love.”
  3. Stay humble and approachable. Dr. Henry Blackaby instructs, “Cultivate humility, for it does not come naturally. One of the many paradoxes of the Christian life is that when God sees your genuine humility, He exalts you.”
  4. Stay active in your discernment. The prophet Hosea shared this truth:
    Let those who are wise understand these things.
    Let those with discernment listen carefully.
    The paths of the Lord are true and right,
    and righteous people live by walking in them.
    But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.Hosea 14:9 NLT
  5. Stay active in application. That was the Apostle Paul’s instruction to his friends in Philippi.

“Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you”

Philippians 4:9 NLT

Just like my long international ministry flights, there are a variety of things we should do on our journey toward spiritual maturity. Let’s actively pursue the goal of becoming more like Christ. Or, as the Apostle put it: “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:14 NLT).

God’s best,