I want to grow an epic beard, but this cowlick on the right side of my face just makes me look silly. After some research, the only answer I could come up with is that you have to grow it out enough for gravity to take effect and counter act that strange growth. Until then, I'll have to deal with this awkward stage until enough time passes to have a full & mature beard. Well...we are all doing this. No, not growing a beard, but growing spiritually. It's a process. Not everyone is in the same place in thier faith, and we all grow differently. Sometimes we have to go through that awkward stage. Don't give up and don't judge each other, give it time and we will all grow in maturity to the image & fullness of Christ.
#SetYourMindAbovePodcast
I want to grow an epic beard, but this cowlick on the right side of my face just makes me look silly. After some research, the only answer I could come up with is that you have to grow it out enough for gravity to take effect and counter act that strange growth. Until then, I'll have to deal with this awkward stage until enough time passes to have a full & mature beard. Well...we are all doing this. No, not growing a beard, but growing spiritually. It's a process. Not everyone is in the same place in thier faith, and we all grow differently. Sometimes we have to go through that awkward stage. Don't give up and don't judge each other, give it time and we will all grow in maturity to the image & fullness of Christ.
#SetYourMindAbovePodcast
Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way.
We are a week and a half into November, and you know what that means: it means that it has been a week and a half since I have trimmed or shaped up my beard. This year, I decided to go ahead and do “No Shave November” as they call it. I’m not sure how the tradition started, but a lot of guys decide to not touch their facial hair for the entire month of November. I am sure it has something to do with the fact that the time to grow a big, thick beard is as we’re entering the cold, winter months when a thick beard would help to keep you warm. I have had a lot of friends that were blessed with some crazy good hair follicles, which is a really weird thing to say but it is what it is. At any rate, they seem to be able to go a month or two without shaving and grow a perfect, thick, and well shaped beard. I on the other hand have not been able to do so. This is not because I have a patchy beard as many do, I have an entirely different problem. I have a pretty large cowlick where my beard grows on the right side of my face. My hair follicles grow in all kinds of different directions, and so shaping it is nearly impossible. While the left side of my face looks well groomed as I try to grow it out, the right side of my face looks like I fell asleep and forgot to run a comb back through it. When I wear my beard short it is not noticeable, but when I try to grow it out it gets to a point where it just looks stupid. So as I was enjoying a cup of coffee and getting my day going, I decided to do some YouTube research to find out how I could possibly fix my strange beard situation – certainly I was not the only one with this problem. As it turns out, I’m not, but the solutions that were given to me were not all that helpful. The first recommendation is to just shave and not try to grow a beard. Oh wow, why didn’t I think of that? Next idea. Well, the next suggestion was to try heat treatments, such as straightening your beard. Well, I have never used a straightener in my life – and my facial hair is not long enough to try that without burning myself, so that’s out too. Finally, the last suggestion seems to be my only solution, but it isn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. The video went on to say that the best solution for fixing a beard cowlick is length. The longer you grow it out, the more other hair will cover the cowlick and the more gravity will pull down on your beard and get it to all grow in the same direction. In other words, if I ever want to have a decent looking beard, I’m going to just have to put up with the super awkward stage for several months. Up to this point, every time I have gotten to this awkward stage I have just trimmed it all back short because I was tired of looking like Freddie the Freeloader. This time I’m going to really try and hold out and go for it, I want to grow the beard. I’ll be taking the biotin, my multivitamins, and using beard oil to try and get it to grow faster and shape it the way that I want to overcome this cowlick. So, if you know me personally and see me from time to time, let me apologize now for the way that I might look right now. I’m working on it, and hopefully with a little bit of time it will be worth the wait and finally become a noteworthy beard.
Every single one of us is working through the same thing actually. No, I don’t mean that everyone on this podcast is trying to grow a beard, I’m talking about something entirely different. I want us to consider Ephesians 4:11-15, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” There is a lot that we can take away from this text, but I want us to focus on one thing in particular. Every single one of us has the same goal – that we want to grow into the image of Christ. As disciples of Jesus, the Spirit is slowly but surely working on our hearts and transforming us into his image in the way that we think, speak, and act. In that sense, none of us will ever be done growing spiritually, because there will always be room for growth. That being said, I want us to consider this spiritual reality: people are at different stages of growth in the church, and some are going through an “awkward stage”. What do I mean by this? Well, let me ask you a question: how has your faith changed just in the past five years? What about the past ten years? Surely if we looked at our lives ten years ago, we would hopefully be able to see ways in which we have grown tremendously since then. Why is this important? It’s important for this reason: we need to learn that all Christians are in different stages of growth, and it is not just to compare ourselves to one another. For example, if you looked at the young teen who’s been a Christian for just a few months, and compare him to an elder of the church – which of them is going to be the most mature, and the most like Jesus? Well, obviously the elder will be. However, the elder has had decades of opportunities to grow more than the young Christian. It would be foolish to expect the teen to be in the same place in his faith as the Shepherd of God’s church. While we are all Christians, the fact of the matter is some are going to look more like Christ than others because growth is a process. We all have to go through that awkward stage, as we are continuing to learn how to deny ourselves and put our former way of life to death. I think that is why David would write what he does in Psalm 25:3-10, “Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.” So let me encourage both younger and older Christians to conclude. To the younger Christians, you’ve got to go through the awkward stage. Don’t give up because spiritual growth is hard, or because you aren’t exactly who you want to be yet today. Growth takes time, patience, and determination – you’ll get there, if you don’t give up. To the older Christians, don’t expect those who have just put on Christ to act as those who are spiritually mature after decades of growth. Be patient with them, as you wanted others to be patient with you in the beginning. Help them as others helped you, and together we can grow into maturity and reflect the image of Jesus Christ in our lives.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.