Walk With Me: It’s Time to Grow

It’s time for what we believe to become how we live.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve been on quite an adventure together.

We’ve talked about what it means to seek Jesus, follow faithfully, abide deeply, experience joy, and invite others along.

But I’ve been thinking about something.

What happens after we say yes to the invitation?

We walk.

We walk with Jesus.

And somewhere along the way, what we believe has to become how we live.

It’s one thing to believe God is trustworthy when life is going well.

It’s another thing to trust Him when you don’t know what tomorrow holds.

It’s one thing to know the Bible tells us not to worry.

It’s another thing when you wake up in the middle of the night and your mind immediately begins running through everything that could possibly go wrong.

It’s one thing to believe in forgiveness.

It’s another thing to forgive someone who has deeply hurt you.

It’s one thing to say, “I surrender.”

It’s another thing when God asks you to release something you desperately want to control.

That’s where discipleship gets real.

There comes a point in our walk with Jesus when knowing what we believe isn’t enough.

We have to learn to live it.

Hebrews describes spiritual maturity this way:

“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

— Hebrews 5:14

I keep coming back to those words:

By constant use.

Other translations say “constant practice.”

I love that picture of spiritual maturity.

Not perfection.

Practice.

Sometimes we think a mature Christian is someone who knows all the answers, never struggles with doubt, never worries, never gets discouraged, and certainly never takes a wrong turn.

But that isn’t what I see in Scripture.

I see people learning to trust God.

Learning to recognize His voice.

Learning to obey.

Learning to wait.

Learning to surrender.

Learning to return to truth when their thoughts begin leading them somewhere else.

In other words, I see people practicing.

And maybe that’s encouraging for those of us who still get it wrong sometimes.

Spiritual maturity doesn’t mean we stop needing Jesus.

I think it means we increasingly realize how desperately we need Him.

We learn to walk closer.

During training I received for biblical counseling, I was introduced to a simple progression that has stayed with me:

Believe Right.
Think Right.
Do Right.
Feel Right.

The idea wasn’t that we can simply command ourselves to feel differently.

It was that our beliefs matter because what we believe influences how we think, how we respond, and ultimately where we learn to find contentment.

As I’ve thought about that framework again, I see such a connection to discipleship.

Maybe we could say it this way:

Biblical Truth → Mind & Heart → Obedience → Contentment

What do I believe?

Our starting point is truth.

Not what culture says.

Not what our circumstances seem to be saying.

Not even what our emotions tell us in a difficult moment.

What does God say is true?

Jesus prayed:

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

— John 17:17

If I am going to walk with Jesus, I need to know the One I am following.

I need His Word.

I need truth.

And I need to continually seek Him.

What am I thinking?

Knowing truth doesn’t automatically mean every thought that enters my mind agrees with it.

Have you noticed that?

I can believe God is trustworthy and still spend an afternoon worrying.

I can believe God has a plan and still become frustrated when His plan doesn’t look like mine.

I can believe my identity is found in Christ and still compare myself with someone else.

That’s why Scripture tells us:

“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

— Romans 12:2

Part of walking with Jesus is learning to stop and ask:

What am I telling myself right now?

And then:

Is it true?

We bring our thoughts back under the authority of God’s truth.

We don’t ignore our emotions. We bring them with us as we abide in Him.

What will I do?

Eventually, truth asks something of us.

This is where follow becomes more than a word.

If I believe God is trustworthy, will I trust Him with this?

If I believe He has forgiven me, will I stop living as though my past defines me?

If He asks me to forgive, will I obey even when forgiveness is difficult?

If He asks me to move, will I move?

If He asks me to stay, will I stay?

Sometimes we wait for our feelings to change before we’re willing to obey.

But what if obedience comes first?

What if I can say:

“Jesus, I don’t feel ready. I don’t understand everything. I may even be afraid. But I trust You enough to take the next step.”

That’s following.

That’s faith.

That’s practice.

And I believe that’s growth.

Where will I rest?

The final word in that counseling framework was feel.

But as I’ve gotten older and walked with Jesus through more seasons of life, I think the word I would use today is contentment.

Paul wrote:

“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”

— Philippians 4:11

Did you catch that?

Learned.

Contentment wasn’t automatic for Paul.

He learned it.

And perhaps that is part of what happens as we walk with Jesus.

We learn that peace doesn’t require everything around us to be peaceful.

We learn that joy doesn’t require everything around us to be joyful.

We learn that trust doesn’t require knowing how the story ends.

We learn to rest because we know Who is walking with us.

And that’s where we begin to experience joy in a completely different way.

We live surrounded by anxiety.

What if something goes wrong?

What if I can’t fix this?

What if the diagnosis isn’t good?

What if my child makes the wrong decision?

What if I lose this opportunity?

What if God doesn’t answer the way I want Him to?

The list is endless.

And walking with Jesus doesn’t mean those thoughts will never enter our minds.

It means we’re learning what to do when they do.

What is true?

Where are my thoughts going?

What is God asking me to do?

Can I trust Him with what I cannot control?

And then we practice.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Not perfectly.

Constantly.

That’s what I want us to understand as we begin this next part of our Choose Joy Adventure.

We aren’t leaving behind everything we’ve been talking about.

We never graduate from seeking Jesus.

We never become too mature to follow.

We never outgrow our need to abide.

We don’t arrive at a place where joy is automatic.

And we certainly never stop inviting others along.

Instead, we grow deeper into all of them.

We seek when we don’t know what to do.

We follow when Jesus shows us the next step.

We abide when we’re tempted to run ahead.

We choose joy because our confidence rests in Him rather than our circumstances.

And eventually, as we learn to walk faithfully with Jesus, we can reach out a hand to someone walking beside us and say:

“Walk with me.”

So this is where our next adventure begins.

We’re going to talk about what it means to:

Walk WITH Him.

Grow AS we walk.

Walk THROUGH the difficult places with Him.

Walk LIKE Him.

And eventually…

Walk WITH others.

Not because we’ve arrived.

Not because we know everything.

But because we’re learning to faithfully take the next step.

So let me leave you with a question:

Is there a truth you already believe but aren’t consistently living?

Don’t let that question lead you toward condemnation.

Let it lead you toward Jesus.

Maybe that’s exactly the place where He’s inviting you to grow.

Maybe He’s simply saying:

“Walk with Me. Let’s practice this together.”

You don’t have to know everything to walk with Jesus.

You simply have to be willing to take the next faithful step.

It’s time to grow.

It’s time for what we believe to become how we live.

Let’s walk together.

Adventure awaits — will you Choose Joy?

With love and joy,

Laura