Follow Jesus Christ

The growth of a plant is governed by a genetic program and by environmental conditions. A plant does not have the conscious ability to say, “That’s enough, I’ll stop growing now.” Yet not all plants follow the same pattern. Annuals (for example, wheat or sunflowers) go through a cycle: they germinate, grow, flower, produce seed, and then die. After reproduction their life program is complete. Perennials can live for decades or longer. They do not grow endlessly at a constant rate, but they continue to produce new cells, branches and roots as long as resources permit and until death comes from old age, disease, or external causes. Some trees do not have a predetermined “final size.” Their growth gradually slows, but it does not stop entirely. For example, many oaks, sequoias, or pines continue to add wood, however slowly, for almost their whole lives.

A person, unlike a plant, is able to say to himself, “That’s enough,” change the direction of development, or refuse to grow further in some area. A person can draw a line under it. A person can “put a full stop.” A plant does not set itself the goal of getting bigger. A plant never tells itself, “I have grown enough.” It simply carries out its nature. As long as there is life, it grows. When growth finally ceases, dying begins. A person who decides he has reached the pinnacle stops growing, and the cessation of growth becomes the start of inner fading.

People, unlike plants, often experience weariness of life. A plant can experience stress in a biological sense — drought, cold, lack of light, damage. But we do not say that it is tired of living. It does not lose its sense of purpose or begin to doubt whether it should continue to grow. A human being has self-awareness. Therefore he can suffer not only physical exhaustion but existential fatigue, disappointment, loss of meaning, inner burnout, a feeling that “everything has already happened” and that everything has been tried. A plant grows while it lives. A human can get tired even while life still dwells within him. His development is limited not only by the strength of the body but by the state of the spirit. A plant does not need to convince itself to keep living. A person sometimes does.

On the one hand, Jesus calls people to active participation. He says, “Seek, and you will find,” “Ask,” “Knock,” “Follow Me,” “Abide in Me,” “Take up your cross.” That is, the human is not passive. There is choice, trust, willingness to go, the capacity to remain faithful. But on the other hand, Jesus constantly uses organic metaphors in which growth is not a matter of willpower. For example: a grain that sprouts, the vine and its branches, a tree and its fruit, the mustard seed, leaven. Particularly telling is the passage in the Gospel of Mark: “The kingdom of God is like a man who throws seed into the ground… and sleeps and rises night and day; and the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how.” In other words, automatically, beyond human control.

In Jesus’ teaching a person is rather responsible for the conditions of growth, but does not produce the growth itself. It is like the gardener. The gardener waters, removes weeds, protects the plant. But he cannot make the seed germinate. Growth remains the mystery of life. A person is not obliged to force himself to grow all the time. Rather: a person must remain open to life, and life itself produces growth. In Jesus’ teaching spiritual growth is not entirely automatic, but it is not manufactured by the person either. A person opens himself to the action of life — and life does its work. This removes the false alternative between passivity and constant strain: human participation is required, but not as the engine of growth, rather as one who maintains connection with the Source. That is why Jesus speaks far more often about abiding, trusting, and bearing fruit than about “self-improvement” as such.

Almost all spiritual traditions recognize that genuine growth cannot be fully “made.” One can only create the conditions in which it becomes possible. Many contemporary spiritual and esoteric practices advise against constantly “pushing” life. They say you should stop resisting, enter the flow, and allow life to express itself through you. This strikingly resembles some Gospel images, especially the vine and the branches. However, Jesus speaks of a personal relationship: “Abide in Me.” In esotericism you more often hear “Be in the flow of the Universe,” which can make the Universe sound depersonalized.

Take the idea of “raising your vibrations.” This is perhaps one of the most popular modern esoteric themes. The logic is roughly this: a person should not forcefully change the world; he changes his inner state, and perception, decisions, and events follow. By “raising vibrations” people usually mean something like “less fear,” “less anger,” “less envy,” “more love,” “more peace,” and so on. Strip away the esoteric vocabulary and what remains is a perfectly sensible psychological idea: inner state affects behavior, and behavior affects life. Here the parallel with Jesus is clear. He also says that change begins within: “A good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good,” “First cleanse the inside of the cup,” “You will know them by their fruits.” But Jesus almost never speaks in terms of “energies” or “vibrations.” His language is the language of heart, spirit, fruit, life, light, rebirth from above.

Here lies the boundary between many modern spiritual practices and the Gospel. In the first case the primary project is perfecting the self. In the second it is entering into a relationship from which a new person is born. That is why Jesus seldom said, “Perfect yourself.” He constantly said, “Follow Me,” “Abide in Me,” “Love God,” “Seek first the Kingdom of God.” The aim is not maximal self-development for its own sake, but participation in the life of God. Growth becomes a natural fruit of that connection, not the person’s independent project. Imagine a plant. You can endlessly polish its leaves, measure their color and size, look at or touch the stem. But if the plant is cut off from its roots, it will wither. Jesus’ teaching shifts attention from perfecting the leaves to connecting with the source of life.