For what it's worth

I was talking to a friend of mine who works in campus ministry with Intervarsity. He was telling me that whereas in the past they had focused on transforming students from seekers to Christ followers, they have come to realize that the spectrum of transformation is broader by far than a single point of "decision." What if there are numerous points of potential faith-transformation? Intervarsity, for its purposes, has imagined four such points along a spectrum of transformation:

• from skeptic to seeker
• from seeker to Christ-follower
• from Christ-follower to leader
• from leader to world-changer

Now I might quibble with some of the terminology, but the basic understanding of the faith-walk as progression along a spectrum is very interesting to me. I know from my own experience that I went from skeptic to seeker (a problematic term, I know, but it'll do for now); not all at once, mind you, but there were certainly key moments along the way. And then again from seeker to believer. All along this "progression" was confusion, straying, and of course the balking and hindering impact of sin in which I delighted and to which I was either wholly or partially blind. So I do not mean to give the impression of straight-line neatness.

Still, even Newton's great hymn may oversimplify the progression in a similar way. "I was blind but now I see." Yes, but then again, I'm still in some significant way blind, compared at least the the faculty of "sight" I will one day have in the presence of my Lord! For now I often see "men like trees walking." I pray that God will continue to cleanse my sight from day to day.

A note about the terminology: what;s better than being a Christ-follower? Is it better, is it more important, to go from there to some sort of "next level" called "leadership?" And from there to, heavens above, "world-changer?" I will leave the world-changing to others. As for leadership, I have another option:

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.