Wisdom of G.

Another thought from the weekend that has been oh so prevalent in my mind lately, is this one from the incredible Steve Gardner. On a side note, the introduction of Steve by Rick Scherr was one for the ages and one of the caliber that anyone and everyone would dream of. It was potentially though one of the most impossible to follow up as a speaker ever. Rick said that Steve had become known as the voice of truth within the mission of Young Life. Wow, I mean I believe it from knowing Steve for the last 8 years, but seriously? Across the mission? That's nuts.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

The thought that Steve brought to our attention was from the very beginning of the weekend and from the very beginning of his first talk. In fact, there's a a good chance that it wasn't even one that was very important to his talk and I know it definitely was not a main point that he built the talk around. However, it stuck out to me personally for reasons that I'm still wading through. Anyways, that thought was...

"Contrary to the world's view of maturity, becoming mature in Christ is not a process of becoming more independent but rather a process of becoming more dependent upon Christ."

How crazy is that and how contrary to the world is that? The truth there will blow your mind, and the accompanying thoughts will probably make your nose start bleeding. Think about it this way: when you talk to someone who is much older than yourself in Christ, that has been following Christ and seeking God's will for their life for a long time, this telling maturity factor really is quite evident, much more so than you would think. They depend upon God for everything: life, breath, money, food, love, grace guidance, everything. It's incredible and beautiful. This is where true freedom comes in, the freedom in Christ that we love to talk about and yet so often fail to grasp. Freedom doesn't come from being independent and making our own choices to follow our earthly desires, it comes from becoming completely and utterly dependent upon the Lord and following His desires for our life, the life that is actually His.