Grow Up: The Motion of Maturity

Somewhere along the way, we started believing a quiet lie. That if we stay around church long enough…
If we serve long enough…
If we age long enough…
Spiritual maturity will eventually just happen.

But Scripture doesn’t support that idea — and Samuel’s story dismantles it completely. Samuel wasn’t born into spiritual stability. He was born when prayer broke through barrenness. He was given back to God before he could spell his own name. And he grew up serving in the house of the Lord while that house was being dishonored. The priesthood was compromised.

The Word of the Lord was rare. Religious activity continued — but reverence was dying. And yet… Samuel grew anyway. Right next to him were Eli’s sons — men with titles, authority, access, and visibility. From a distance, they looked like the future. But Scripture says something chilling about them:

“They did not respect the Lord.” That sentence exposes a terrifying truth:

You can be near holy things and still have a hollow heart. You can know the language. You can know the rhythm. You can know the systems. And still never develop spiritual weight.

Samuel proves something essential for every generation: Growth is not automatic. It’s intentional. God doesn’t form mature people in perfect environments. He forms them in unstable ones. Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s house. Joseph was shaped in prison. Daniel learned to stand in Babylon. Esther’s courage formed under threat, not comfort.

God doesn’t wait for the world to calm down before He calls someone up. But growth costs something.

It costs your illusions — the belief that titles equal intimacy.
It costs your comfort — choosing obedience when holiness is inconvenient.
It costs your hurry — growing before the Lord, unseen and uncelebrated.
It costs your ego — serving without building a platform.

Samuel didn’t become cynical. He didn’t weaponize what he saw. He didn’t quit. He just grew. Scripture tells us how: “The boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord.”

That’s where growth begins — presence.
Not performance.
Not proximity to leaders.
Not longevity.

Presence.

And when God finally speaks again — after years of silence — He speaks to someone who has learned how to listen. If there is a prayer for this generation, it’s the same one Samuel prayed: “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.”

Not just to hear the word.
But to obey it.
That’s how Samuels grow.