Eric Geiger is the Senior Pastor of Mariners Church in Irvine, California. Before moving to Southern California, Eric served as senior vice-president for LifeWay Christian Resources. Eric received his doctorate in leadership and church ministry from Southern Seminary. Eric has authored or co-authored several books including the bestselling church leadership book, Simple Church. Eric is married to Kaye, and they have two daughters: Eden and Evie. During his free time, Eric enjoys dating his wife, taking his daughters to the beach, and playing basketball.

Moving Forward

We cannot consistently behave in ways that are different from what we believe about ourselves.

— Kenneth Boa

It is time to move on. It is time to move forward. I am not referring to a new job, a new address, a new relationship, or a new style of dress. It is time to move on in your faith. It is time to move forward in your relationship with God.

If not ... then place the book back on the shelf. Don't buy it.

Maybe someone gave you the book, but you're not ready to move forward in your faith. Then fold the book a few times to give it that worn look and place it in the basket in your bathroom. Write the thank-you letter to your mom or your friend. But don't read the book. It will not be of much value to you.

Still reading?

Me too. And not only because I am writing.

I need to move on. Too often I stay in the same place spiritually. Too often I live on the truth of last month's devotional thoughts. Or the buzz of last year's mission trip. I keep talking about things God has shown me ... years ago.

Is there nothing new?

Stuck?

I was asked to speak at a conference in Oahu. For the geographically challenged, Oahu is an island in Hawaii. After I prayed about it for 2.2 seconds, my response was, "Yes, Lord, send me." After all, someone has to go to Hawaii. And it might as well be me. Kaye, my wife, joined me, and we took a week of vacation around the speaking engagement.

We rented a car so we could drive around the island. The car was great, but each day we could not find the condo where we were staying. We would leave for the beach in the morning, but in the afternoon we were lost. The map was hard to understand, and the street signs were very confusing because each sign was filled with five or six vowels.

We knew how to drive to the condo from the airport. Those simple directions were given to us when we arrived. And finding the airport was easy because of the big road signs.

So each day we followed signs back to the airport and started over. Each day we would start from the same place as the previous day.

We wasted a ton of time. We were frustrated in airport traffic. And we felt like losers driving through the terminal each day. No doubt we looked a bit suspicious.

Finally, we had enough. We were tired of wasting time. We were tired of reliving the same scenario each day. We were tired of going through the same motions each afternoon. We were stuck. It was time to move on.

Do you ever feel the same way?

Perhaps you are stuck, spiritually speaking. Maybe you feel like you have not grown much since you began your faith journey. Maybe you have been going through the same motions for years. If so, you are probably tired of the same scenario. Nothing has really changed along the journey.

If you were honest, perhaps you would even call your faith boring.

Being stuck is frustrating. So much wasted time. Same daily grind. Perhaps you keep going back to the airport because that is all you know. If you are stuck, you are not alone. If you find yourself a bit bored or even disappointed with your faith, you are not alone. But it is time to press forward.

Pressing Forward

The apostle Paul continually pressed toward his goal of being mature in Christ. He admitted that he was far from the goal, but he kept moving forward:

Not that I have already obtained all this [Christlikeness], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:12–14 niv)

While Paul confessed he was not perfect, being stuck was not an option. He painted the picture of a runner who strained toward the goal. In other words, Paul assumed responsibility for his spiritual growth.

While Paul knew that God is the one who ultimately works in us (Phil. 2:13), he challenged Christians to partner with God in the process of becoming more like Christ. He told believers to "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12 NIV).

Work out your salvation. Not work for your salvation.

Salvation is a free gift given by God to those who trust and follow Christ; therefore, salvation cannot be earned. But once someone has received the gift of salvation, he is challenged to live it out, to mature, and to grow. The apostle Paul also wrote:

Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. (1 Tim. 4:7–8 NIV)

Some modern and very loose translations could have, Quit watching infomercials about spiritual exercise. Get off the couch and go for it. The stakes are high. Moving forward in your faith brings blessing and fulfillment in this life and rewards in eternity.

Yet many of us stay in the same place spiritually. Despite God's clear instructions to press forward, many of us are stuck. We have heard sermons and read books on growing as a Christian, yet we are the same. We know there must be more.

Why are we still stuck in spiritual adolescence?

SPIRITUAL ADOLESCENCE

In the 1960s a social psychologist named Erik Erikson developed a theory of development. He was not a biblical scholar or a theologian. He studied one aspect of God's general revelation: creation. He observed and studied people.

In Erikson's model, teenagers reach a point of developmental crisis. Erikson calls the crisis role confusion versus identity. In other words, teenagers are searching for an identity. They want to discover who they are, apart from their parents. They want to be known for something, anything.

As someone who worked with teenagers for nearly a decade, I believe that Erikson's model has some credence. Teenagers are searching for an identity, a reputation. For many, a bad reputation is better than no reputation. They experiment with their dress, their music, their friends, their hobbies, even their walk, attempting to define who they are.

I remember one student as the poster child. Jonathan was searching frantically for his identity. One month he showed up to our student ministry meetings with baggy pants hanging dangerously low, big headphones bumping rap music, and a super-cool handshake that took twenty-seven seconds to execute.

Next month Jonathan arrived wearing jeans so tight that you could decipher the brand of tobacco in his back pocket. He talked with a twang and played country music with the windows rolled down. I looked for the big gun rack on the back of his truck but did not see one.

Evidently Jonathan's country-bumpkin identity did not suit him well either. A few months later he was dressed in all black, wearing some chains, and listening to...