Graduating to the Next Level

"Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth." 2Timothy 2:15(NLT)

by Alexandra Copeland

Promotion in the workplace is an expected norm. When interviewing for a position with a company, one of the most frequent questions that an employment candidate will ask is whether there is room within the company for advancement and promotion. A company isn’t believed to be progressive if they don’t have protocols and procedures that will foster growth, and reward their workforce monetarily through promotions and advancement. No one wants to be in a position where they feel stuck and unable to move themselves up the corporate ladder, so to speak. They want to be assured that if they’ve sufficiently learned all there is to glean in their respective positions, and they've mastered the skill-set at one level, the pay-off is that they will move to a higher level. 

The expectation of advancement starts very early in our lives. In our educational systems, a child starts at around the age of four, and advances from Pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten, to first-grade. We can continue to move up the educational ladder to become degreed experts in whatever field of study we wish to pursue. Again, the expectation is that life will afford us with opportunities to increase based on our desire to expand ourselves intellectually and productively.  

Systems of promotions and advancement are prominent in just about every facet of human existence, and they have become very sophisticated, but this very basic need to express ourselves more fully through growth and opportunities didn’t begin with us. We were created by Heavenly Father to expand, and to seek out expansion. We would be remiss to think for one second that this is germane only to education and the workplace. The most important, achievable, and rewarding advancement is in the spiritual realm of God, where we, as seekers of His Word, graduate from one spiritual level to the next.  

We all hope to live our lives in such a way that our labors are not in vain. We make an ample investment into the companies and institutions of others, and we want to be rewarded for this, but the truth is that the most we can hope to receive from these entities is monetary gain. The world is extremely limited in its ability to reward. This isn’t true of heavenly rewards. Heavenly Father is unlimited in the way that He rewards us. There is never going to be a cap on His blessings, and He adds to our lives in unbelievably fulfilling ways.  

James 4:7-8 (NLT) tells us, “7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” This is the extraordinary thing about growing in Christ. The major difference that comes into play when you contrast what the world offers against spiritual promotion and advancement in Christ is that the more we seek to go higher in the Lord, the tighter our relationship with Him becomes. When we come close to God, he will come close to us.

Some of us experience significant bumps in the road in life. Sometimes our financial situation changes, and it seems as if we don’t have enough to meet our needs. Life is full of mishaps, and sometimes they happen one right after the other. We take one step forward and two steps backwards. We’re left wondering what we could have possibly done to ignite such a firestorm against our lives. These kinds of wilderness experiences often translate to a calling card for change. Although the enemy means them for bad, God will turn them around for our good.  

God tells us through the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:28(NLT), “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” God causes ALL things, even those things that the enemy sends to trip us up, to work together for good. He does this for those that are walking according to His purpose. Many of us that have been born again and are called, are not walking in purpose. We may start out on the good foot, but somewhere along the way we veer off the path.  

God doesn’t leave us out there in left field to fin for ourselves. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, He reroutes us. This rerouting means that we can’t continue to get into a hit or miss battle with the enemy—dodging darts with swings that don’t land. We have to rise up in our believing and faith to see God greater, so that we can also see our standing and authority in Christ from a clearer vantage point.  

If companies and employers in the world system tell us that we’ll be promoted after we’ve achieved a certain standard, most of us take their word for it. We know very little about the character of those responsible for measuring our progress, but we assume that all will be as it should simply because they tell us it will be. In Hebrews 11:6, God tells us that He is a Rewarder. His Word is truth, and He is utterly and completely faithful to His Word. Yes, we may have challenges, but a challenging period in our lives is a sign that spiritual promotion is upon us. It’s time to move up, and if we continue to press in faith, we will graduate to the next level of spiritual elevation. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.