Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 277 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Time #2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 277 of our trek, and on Tuesday of this week, we are started on an extended trek that contains 18 different trails that we will hike. Our first trail was the Trail of Faith. Yesterday and today we are hiking on the Trail of Time.

The entire trek is adapted from a short book called Principles of Spiritual Growth written by Miles J. Stanford. This information was instrumental in my spiritual growth as a young man seeking to create and live my legacy. I trust that you will find this trek valuable in your own life, regardless of your spiritual background or perspective. Each of the trails that we will hike builds on the previous one, so if you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since we are hiking on the Trail of Time for a couple of days, I am reminded just how brief our time is here on our trek of life.

Last week an online friend’s, who is a leader within one of the Facebook communities that I belong to, husband died un-expectantly. They also have two young children that have lost their father. While each day seems to rush by, and we may not accomplish all that we desire to, let us make sure that we take time for the most important people in our lives. We do not know when God may call us home, let’s make sure that we are living a legacy each day and leaving an impactful legacy for generations to come. Let’s not try to rush what is important.

These thoughts lead us to our hike for today on the 2^nd part of our Trail of Time. This will complete our 2^nd of 18 trails which will make up the trek we call…

Principles of Spiritual Growth – Time #2

As I mentioned yesterday, it seems that most Christ followers, including myself, have difficulty realizing and facing up to the unchangeable fact that God does not hurry in His development of our lives and the impact that we should have on our world. He is working from and for eternity! So many times we don’t feel that we are making enough progress unless we are swiftly and constantly forging ahead. Yesterday, we used the analogy of the oak tree and the squash. One takes decades to grow to maturity, and the other just a few months. It is only the oak tree that will be left standing for generations to come. It is the same with our Spiritual growth and renewal.

Spiritual renewal is a gradual process. All growth is progressive, and the stronger the organism, the longer the process. It is from measure to measure as Matthew 13:23 tells  us, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” It is from stage to stage as Mark 4:28 says, “The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.” It is from day to day because God is not in a hurry as 2 Peter 3:8 describes, “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.”

How varied are these analogies! There are great days, days of decisive battles, days of crises in spiritual history, days of triumph in Christian service, days of the right hand of God upon us. But there are also idle days, days apparently useless, when even prayer and holy service seem a burden. Are we, in any sense, renewed in these days? Yes, for any experience which makes us more aware of our need of God must contribute to spiritual progress unless we deny the Lord, who bought us.

Regardless of what your purpose and calling in life are, we are all here on earth to give hope and to live a legacy. Our primary purpose is to point others to and bring glory to God. We must understand that it takes many years to learn and grow from an apprentice to a master in our crafts. And, so it is in our growth in our knowledge and understanding of God and His Word. There is no way to rush the process.

This is not to discourage us in any way but to help us settle down with our sights on eternity, by faith in God’s timeline, not ours. Even the Apostle Paul understood this concept, which he describes in Philippians 3:12-14, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,  I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Certainly this is not to discount a Spirit-fostered experience, blessing, or even a crisis; but it is to be remembered that these simply contribute to the overall, and all-important, process. It takes time to get to know ourselves; it takes time and eternity to get to know our infinite Lord Jesus Christ. It is up to us to continue on with our daily trek with endurance. The type that is described in Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

So often in the daily battles of life we go to the Lord, and pray and plead and appeal for victory, for power, for mastery over the forces of evil and death. Our thought is that in some way, the Lord is going to come in with a mighty exercise of power and put us into a place of victory and spiritual dominance as in an act. We must have this mentality corrected. What the Lord does is to enlarge us to possess this power. If we desire to gain endurance or muscle strength, we must be willing to exercise. In the same way, God puts us through some exercise, through some experience, that allows us to expand and strengthen spiritually. This growth takes both time and nutrients as told to us in Colossians 2:7, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

On our trek Principles for Spiritual Growth, we have now hiked the Trails of Faith and Time. As part of this, we need to have the faith and knowledge that God’s timing in our lives is best. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says it well, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

During the next two days, we will hike the Trail of Acceptance and explore why God wants us to understand what it really means to be accepted in Him. Every trail that we hike will help us to create and live our legacy each day. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person, so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!