Becoming a Spiritual G.O.A.T.

We throw the idea of "GOAT" (Greatest of All Time) around for lots of things, but I'll bet the idea of becoming a Spiritual GOAT is new to you. In the first installment of Operation Follow, we'll take a look at the catalyst that brought about these devotional challenges.

Welcome and Big Picture

Hello and welcome to the  Operation Follow  weekly devotional challenge. If you're reading this first one, then you probably already know me. If not, really quick, my name is Ken Edwards and I've been following Jesus for almost 50 years now. My calling in life has been discipling middle and high school students. I've been a teacher, coach, Bible study leader, camp speaker, discipleship mentor, and youth minister.

Couple of things up front:

• This first devotional challenge is a little longer than what you should expect from week-to-week. Since we're just getting started, there are some extra things I need to share.
• These devotional challenges are written for Christian teenagers. But if you're not a Christian, I would still encourage you to take this ride with us. And when you have bigger questions or are ready to take the step of faith to start your own relationship with Jesus, you'll already have some foundation built. And if you're not a teenager, that's okay too. Hopefull you can glean from this effort.

How I/We Got Here

I want to briefly tell you how I got here in terms of starting  Operation Follow . I've been meditating on a number of encounters, conversations and observations I've had over the last couple of years. What I realized is that lots of students who are Christians--that is, who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior--are having trouble answering questions like:

• What has God been doing in your life lately?
• What has God been teaching you?
• What are you doing to grow in your relationship with Jesus?
• What is a Spiritual goal you're working toward?

If that's you on any or all of those questions, then I think it's time to do something about it. I hope that these devotional challenges will be part of you doing something about. But even beyond that, it's time for you to be both encouraged and challeged to start following Jesus in a different way, a more intentional way, a more meaningful way. When we read the Gospels, we don't find stories of Jesus sitting around doing nothing. He was always on the move, pouring into his disciples, challenging the religious leaders, healing, teaching, casting out demons, talking about the Heavenly Father.

So, stay with me here: If you're truly following Jesus in a meaningful and intentional way, things should be happening! You should be growing, changing and maturing in your faith. You should be seeing the Lord at work in you, through you and around you. If that's not happening, know that I'm not being critical or trying to make you feel bad. I'm just saying that you're missing out on some amazing, life-changing, eternity-changing, Kingdom-growing things are your Heavenly Father is doing. And you're potentially neglecting the most important relationship you could ever have with the One, True, Living God who created you and has a plan for your life.

How to Use These Devotions

The goal of  Operation Follow  is to help you change the way you follow Jesus, which I pray will set you on a path toward becoming a "Spiritual G.O.A.T.". That's the main topic of this first devotional, and I'll explain what that means shortly. But first, here's how I would encourage you to use this weekly devotional challenge:

• Before your week gets started, spend a few minutes reading through the week's devotional. You don't have to tackle it all at once, but I would encourage you to at least get it started before your potentially crazy week starts out on Monday morning. Then you can check back from time to time during the week to work on some of the resources that will be provided.
• Each devotional will have some Scripture for you to read and study, along with some challenge questions for you to think through.
• Take your time with the Bible verses. I've found that just taking a few verses and going deep with them is a great way to study the Bible.
• Take your time with the challenge questions. These are for you to really think about, pray about, meditate on, maybe even discuss with others. Don't rush this. Maybe take a different question each day and integrate that into your quiet time. Or, even better, use the Scripture and questions to start having a quiet time!
• Write some things down. We'll do a whole devotional challenge on keeping a journal, but it's important to write things down so you can start to see where the Lord is taking you.
• Reach out. If you have questions or need help with anything, go to the site's [CONTACT] page and send me a message. It will come straight to me via email. You can also email me directly or text me if you have those.

Scripture Reference

These verses are the inspiration behind  Operation Follow . We will come back and go through these verses one by one in future devotionals, but go ahead and read through them now.

What is a Spiritual G.O.A.T.?

Of course you know that G.O.A.T. stands for "Greatest of All Time". In sports and other areas, a GOAT is someone who has reached an elite level of knowledge, ability and performance. Someone who is tops in their field. Words like "legendary" come to mind. Someone who is well-respected in their discipline or who may be considered the expert in something.

We are going to define a "Spiritual GOAT" as someone who has reached an elite level of intentionally following Jesus, intimately interacting with God, walking in step with the Holy Spirit, practicing Spiritual disciplines, and sactifically loving on and serving others. You may be thinking, "It would take me all of eternity to reach that level." And you are exactly right about that. But if we don't at least pursue Spiritual greatness, the tendency is to become stagnant in our faith, consumed by the things of the world, buried in sinful habits, and being of little use in furthering God's Kingdom.

This devotional challenge isn't going to make you a Spiritual GOAT, but I pray that it will help point you in that direction and start moving you toward it.

I will tell you this with all the confidence in the world. Please don't miss this. The absolutel best thing you can do for your friends, family, siblings, people you're dating, teammates, classmates, community, younger students at your school, co-workers...you get the idea. The best thing you can do for all these people in your life, and for yourself, is to intentionally pursue Spiritual greatness.

So, if you're up for it, I'm going to give you some things that characterize Spiritual GOATs and then give you some challenge questions to think about.

• Wisdom - GOATs know how to listen to and hear from God. They understand His wisdom, and they apply Biblical principles that take them beyond just knowing right from wrong. They can discern (great word to learn more about) what to do in those gray areas where eveything isn't black and white.
• Self-Awareness - GOATs do work on their inner selves. They own their sin and bad decisions, work at healing past wounds, and they are moving toward becoming a better self - Spiritually, mentally and physically. They know their strengths and weaknesses and can articulate their God-given Spiritual gifts.
• Inner Peace - GOATs model consistency and order in their daily walk with God. They are convinced that spending time with the Lord each day is critical. They stay calm and become the voice of reason in the midst of struggle or chaos. Their close relationship with the Lord helps them maintain a mindset free from worry.
• Solid Boundaries - GOATs are no longer being led astray by others who are making bad decisions and living self-destructive lives. They stay away from toxic relationships. They maintain a safe distance from online habits and content that are opposed to their faith journey.
• Authenticity - GOATs build relationships with peers who can help hold them accountable in areas of their life where they are tempted, struggle or fall. They provide honest, constructive, meaningful accountability to some of their peers as well.
• Others Focused - GOATs make putting others ahead of themselves a routine part of their day-to-day life. They joyfully give, serve, love and share the Good News of Jesus.

That's not an exhaustive list by any means. As you were reading them, you may have thought of others. I honestly keep coming back and modifying the list the more I meditate on this idea of becoming a Spiritual GOAT.

You may feel thousands of miles away from Spiritual greatness. I do, too. And I've been at this journey substantially longer than you have. We can conclude, then, that this is a life-long journey. No one ever "arrives" at GOAT. In becoming more like Jesus, there's no actually becoming Jesus. There's always more room to grow and change and mature. No matter where you land today, how about we start moving in a better direction!

Challenge Questions

These questions will give you something to think through, pray about, spend time with God on, and discuss with others. Get a journal. Write some stuff down.

1. What do you think of the concept of becoming a Spiritual GOAT? Is it inspiring and motivating, or does it make you feel bad or guilty or like you may be failing at life?
2. You probably know people in your life who model the characteristics above. Can you associate at least one person with each of the characteristics?
3. Looking at the characteristics above, which ones do you feel are your strongest at this point in your ilfe?
4. Which characteristics do you feel need the most work in your life?
5. If you could pick one of the characteristics to work on over the next couple of months, which one would you choose? Why would you choose it? How might you go about working on that characteristic?
6. What would it look like for you to have a one-on-one conversation with one or more of the people you listed above, and what would you ask them?
7. When are you scheduled to have a one-on-one conversation with one of the Spiritual GOATs in your life?

Over the coming weeks, we will work through each of these Spiritual GOAT characteristics to give you some more insight, direction and inspiration. Let me close this out with a prayer for you.

Praying Us Out

Dearest and most gracious, loving and forgiving Heavenly Father. I just want to thank you for planting this seed in my heart, and for directing students and others here to really think about the concept of pursuing Spiritual greatness. Keep us humble. Help us remember that no amount of Spiritual progress is even possible without Your grace and mercy, your strength and your power. I just pray for each of the students I have had the privilege to invest in over the years, and those I get to come in contact with every day. Grow up this generation to restore families, communities, this nation and the world to love You, serve You and worship your Holy Name. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.