By: Pam Otto

“Let us spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”  Hebrews 10:24 

I slipped on my tennis shoes, put in my AirPods, turned on a podcast, and headed out for a brisk walk. A few minutes into my workout, I heard a statement that stopped me in my tracks…The podcast speaker said, 

“Spiritual maturity is not tied to our spiritual knowledge; it's tied to our spiritual response.” Wait. Read that again. 

Did that hit you like it did me? It’s not like it was new information, but it certainly made me pause and ponder my own responses to Jesus.

The podcast continued, and the speaker noted that “our spiritual maturity is how quickly we say ‘Yes’ to God, in all things.” Whoa. She got me again! 

As I kept walking, I began thinking of the times in my life when my response to God wasn't very quick…it may have been a little tardy, or maybe a lot tardy. I thought of moments when it was pretty clear I was being nudged by God to move forward with something, but I stood still instead. I wondered how many times I had missed some really cool opportunities to grow closer to God because I chose the comfortable, predictable, safe, or peaceful option. As I walked and listened, I thought of various seasons in my life, and did a quick inventory of my high school days, then college, and post college. Was I ever ‘quick’ to say Yes to God? In all things? What about you?

I had the privilege of learning about God from a very young age and always enjoyed digging deeper into the Word, looking at various bible translations, and even breaking down verses in the original Hebrew or Greek. I've memorized scripture and have enough devotionals to start a used bookstore. But, after pondering the question from the podcast, I must ask myself, “What is my response to God? How quickly am I saying Yes to Him on a daily basis”?

My desire to walk close to God is sold out and certain, so why does my response often seem so calculated or sometimes slow?

I believe we need to value both the knowledge of learning about God and the lifestyle of obedience to God. 

When we commit to applying God’s Word in our everyday lives and surround ourselves with others who are walking in the same direction, our ‘Yes’ will be the next right step in our faith walk. We need others to walk beside us, to ask the hard questions, to spur us on to obedience, and to encourage us to respond to God with a timely Yes!

Hebrews 10:24 says, “Let us spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” 

Do you have others walking with you and speaking into your life? Are they encouraging you in your faith journey?

Beautiful Groups meet weekly at every campus! Maybe your next ‘Yes’ to God is getting plugged into a group?

*message from Jackie Hill Perry @ IF: Gathering 2022

RESPOND is a repost from March 25, 2022