The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
When Spiritual Growth Means Moving On: Navigating Christian Maturity
Growth requires change—a truth that applies just as powerfully to our spiritual journeys as any other area of life. Walking around my lake community recently, I found myself reflecting on a neighborhood Bible study I attended years ago and the uncomfortable realization that prompted me to move on.
Have you ever been in a spiritual environment where asking questions or offering perspectives beyond the basics seemed threatening to those in leadership? That's exactly what I encountered. What began as friendly fellowship quickly revealed itself as a space limited to "milk"—those foundational teachings Paul references in 1 Corinthians. Though essential, milk alone cannot sustain mature believers forever.
The challenging reality many Christians eventually face is that spiritual maturity sometimes requires difficult transitions. Like Abraham being called out of Haran or Paul and Barnabas separating to pursue different ministry paths, there are seasons when continued growth means leaving comfortable spaces behind. This isn't about spiritual superiority—it's about obedience to where God is leading you personally.
A friend once told me, "Your walk is a very lonely walk." Pursuing God wholeheartedly sometimes means becoming misunderstood by others, even fellow believers. The path to deeper spiritual understanding often includes seasons of solitude and separation. Yet in these spaces, we often encounter God in profound new ways.
Remember that while you may outgrow certain communities or practices, you never outgrow loving people or sharing Christ's love. The challenge is maintaining humility while following God's unique direction for your life. If you're feeling that tension between where you are and where God is calling you, take heart—this difficult but necessary evolution is part of authentic spiritual growth.
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Hey everybody, welcome to another Wofo, yo Short. I'm C-Dub. I was walking around the neighborhood, live in a little lake community. It's on a loop. Walking around the neighborhood, living in a little lake community, it's on a loop, it's about two miles, maybe just under two miles getting some exercise in Beautiful community. As I'm walking around, I'm praying, I'm taking in the beauty, just listen to see what the Holy Spirit has to say.
Speaker 1:And I walked past this house that went to a Bible study in it about a year and a half, two years ago, anyway, got invited. They had a thing where they posted it on the community billboard as you enter hey, bible study, here I go. Huh, wonder what that's about. Had some friends that live in the community, mike and Lisa invited me to it and you know I went and, nice enough, people had some little desserts and stuff. Afterwards had a good conversation with them. There were some things that didn't like about it and I just flashed back to this while I'm walking around, get a little bit of exercise in.
Speaker 1:And Number one thing well-meaning people. There were some personalities I had encountered before, back when Bones and I used to go and we would have a little Bible study discussion. I called it sparring. In a way, that's probably a good way of saying it, but when the Lord would show us something, a lot of times we would get pushback from the ordained ministers and all the people with the big titles and all this and want to throw all the titles around. And there were some genuinely sincere people there too. There were parts of it that reminded me of that. One guy in particular don't even know who he was, and I'm just like the dad in that house was conducting the Bible study, but the person trying to direct the Bible study was this other guy and he could smile big enough, but there was this element of control there, and so one of the reasons that I've talked about going over to a buddy of mine, daryl Coulson has a church over in Anna Illinois called Hope Church.
Speaker 1:I love going over to Bible study there because I'm always learning something, even if it's something I've encountered before. I'm getting refreshed. That interaction is something of iron sharpening iron. I'm able to bring some to discussion, I might even get pushback and I'm learning, and I love that. Even if we have a disagreement, I'm still going to learn, and this is not what that was. God bless them and I hope it succeeds. I hope it's still going on, but it was milk level.
Speaker 1:Now, for those of you that don't know what that means, over in 1 Corinthians 3.2, to reference this, paul says I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Even now you're not ready, and what he's saying is there's a certain maturity level, certain teachings that are basic, and I will be the first one to tell you. You never get past the basics. However, when the Lord calls you to start to dig deeper, you don't want to just do basics, you want to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:I wasn't supposed to be a regular attendee of that Bible study. I've done this, I got to see this behavior before and they would go well. Does anybody have any questions and questions comments? Well, man, if I'm there, uh, as my buddy, uh, darrell Colson, says, sometimes I've been known to throw out a hand grenade because I want us to grow, I want everybody in that room to grow, and the fact that I asked a question or had a comment, the way it came across it was viewed as a threat to this guy who was kind of pulling the strings behind it, and I'm like, hmm, that guy seemed threatened because he was no longer the expert in the room. That is what it is. That would have led to contention if I stayed, and I'm not here to cause contention. You know people will get the word where they can, at the level they're ready for.
Speaker 1:Hebrews talks about desire, the sincere milk of the word. There's a time for it. You just don't want to stay on it. That being said, here's some hard truths about Christianity. In your walk with Jesus Christ, God will bring you to a certain part of the relationship where there are certain things that are no longer productive or expedient for you to do. Anyway, my neighbor Lisa asked me you're going to be a tenant? No, not going back. Wish them the best, but it would not be productive for what the Lord's called me to do, to be going to that particular Bible study. Am I above interacting with people, lord? No, you will never get above loving on people, ministering to people.
Speaker 1:However, there will be times where things aren't expedient and there's times when the Lord will call you into deeper things, and that's just a cold, hard truth of it, and what happens is people that are going to stay on milk level and, again, god love them. Maybe there's a physical thing there where they can't understand past a certain level. We're not supposed to talk about these things. These are legitimate things. But you have other people that I've arrived, I've got saved, and if I learn more then I'm probably going to be held accountable for more and I'm just really comfortable being saved and going to worship service. That is what it is.
Speaker 1:Don't expect to get into the deeper things of God. Expect to have a good feeling. Don't expect to get into the deeper things of God. Expect to have a good feeling. You know, expect to probably be in a cycle of I'm going to get my spiritual boost on Sunday and continue to degrade during the week until I need that boost again, which is where a lot of people are. And so I'm never going to say you're above church attendance, never going to say that you're above ministering to people.
Speaker 1:But there will be times where the Lord calls you away because he's trying to mature you past, where groups or maybe organizations will be the key thing. Don't ever, ever, ever be prideful in that Matter of fact. It's kind of painful because you develop these relationships and you love these people, but sometimes I had a guy named Aaron Porter, I think him and his wife are still ministering. We didn't see eye to eye on something, but he gave me some sound advice. He says your walk is a very lonely walk and so if you're going to go into the wilderness and if you're going to pursue God and be willing to not be part of the in crowd when it comes to the church and all that as far as the organized church if you're willing to pursue God to the point where you become the bad guy in somebody's story, like the early Christians were, it can get lonely and the Lord will bring you up with people. There'll be times he just has you walk together in that walk of somebody going along the same path, and then you'll build that relationship and you'll split up because they got to go a different way. You got to go a different way. It's Paul and Barnabas has to become Paul and Silas and Barnabas and John Mark.
Speaker 1:So, saying all that to say this if you ever find yourself in that place of conflict where you go, everybody's telling me to do this. In my spirit I really feel like the Holy Spirit, you know, and especially if you're hearing and you're hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, the Lord's wanting me to go over to this place and it's not going to be popular. Don't be high and mighty, don't be better than thou, but just be obedient to the Lord, because I guarantee you you're going to feel frustrated. Pursue the Lord, don't be too good for people, but your direction and where you are called to go can be that you will not properly mature if you stay where you're at. It's Abram getting called out of Haran over in Genesis For you to get where you're going.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you just cannot do the things you used to do. Be gracious, but also be honest and upfront about it. Or, better yet, if they don't ask you, you ain't even got to tell them, because now it's going to come across, it's going to probably hurt some feelings, but be obedient. Sometimes you just outgrow things and that is a cold hard truth in Christianity. That is a cold hard truth in your faith. Walk, but just remember, you never outgrow loving on people. You never outgrow sharing the love of Jesus Christ. You never outgrow the word that keeps you grounded and you never outgrow the basics. But you don't want to focus on the basics so much that you can't go deeper once you have those things down. Just want to encourage you get out there, walk out your faith If that causes you to make some changes, set some things aside, maybe even not attend certain things, because it's just life on repeat. I highly encourage you to pray about it, get your answer from the Lord not from C-dub, but get your answer from the Lord and then be obedient. You'll be glad you did.
Speaker 1:Wofo Yo. Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at wofoyoorg, find out how to contact us there, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, spotify or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. For Bones and myself, this is C-Dub, reminding you that if you're going to grow, you got it. Wofoyo, get in the word for yourself.