One Asian nation has no word for “retreat” in its language. Instead, the order is given to “advance to the rear”. A certain Christian businessmen’s fellowship can’t bring itself to hold men’s “retreats”-so it calls them “advances”. Forward thinking!
God instructed Moses to “speak unto the children of Israel, that they move forward”-literally, “pull up stakes”. When they did, God opened a path for them through the sea, and they crossed over-from bondage to freedom. Retreat wasn’t an option.
There are three ways believers can progress in the Christian life: from Strength to Strength; from Faith to Faith; and from Glory to Glory.
Psalm 84 inspires us to value God’s House, which today is the Church. Even the swallow, sings the psalmist, knows to build her nest in the presence of the Lord. To the pilgrims making their way up the mountains to Jerusalem, one day in the courts of the Lord was “better than a thousand” elsewhere! Better to be a doorkeeper in God’s House than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. No wonder they went “from strength to strength” – each pilgrim standing in the Lord’s presence.
There’s also a progression “from faith to faith”. God’s perfect integrity, His righteousness, is revealed in the gospel, imparting faith to the hearts of those who believe, and setting in motion their “walk of faith”-first steps in the personal pilgrimage of every new believer. (Romans 1:17)
“From faith to faith”- not “faith to presumption” or “Faith to positive Thinking, but “faith to faith” -each step stronger in faith than the last. There are degrees of faith – we begin with Little faith, continue to Great faith, and end up with Mega-faith. Faith that moves molehills will one day move mountains! The quality of faith remains constant – it’s the quantity that increases.
Finally, we advance from Glory to Glory -“we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord”. (2 Cor. 3:18)
Stephen’s face was “like the face of an angel” as he witnessed of Jesus to his countrymen. (Acts 6:15) When he spoke of seeing “the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand”-it was too much for them!
For “a young man named Saul” standing by, it was a glory he couldn’t handle! Years later, seeing “a light from heaven, brighter than the noonday sun”, he was blinded by the glory. Healed, he later became Paul – the greatest apostle of all. A glorious move forward!