From Stuck to Unstoppable: Your Self-Awareness Growth Blueprint

Russ Ewell

It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.

Pew Research just came out with a new, I think it’s called Religious Landscape Survey, where they go through and they examine what are the trends religiously in America. And they showed a leveling off in the decline, a leveling off of the decline of people’s interest in or involvement in Christianity. And they noted that people are very interested in the spirituality, that many more pray and do a lot of spiritual things. They may not be going to church, but they do all those things. Why do I mention this? Because I think people want to grow.

I think every human being wants to grow. I think we have a natural hunger and thirst to become something. And that, to me, is what the series is about, the Best Life series. And I could tell a story about this, and I will tell a story about this right after that break. 

Russ Ewell (18:38.347)

So we were talking, Mike, about it. It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be by Albus Dumbledore and I want to tell a story. It’s an interesting story. And I wrote it out. I wrote it out because I wanted to be able to share with our listeners the process of not just self-awareness, but growth into self-awareness. And let me go ahead and share this because it has to do with bookstores. Bookstores and libraries were my sanctuary when I was young.

My mom had dropped me off at the library when she taught summer school. And for about three hours, I was able to consume a variety of influential thinkers, entertainers, and writers capable of transporting and transforming. I remember reading through all of the Sports Illustrateds from the beginning of Sports Illustrated publishing to the year I was in. And they had them all bound, the library did, and I read all the way through them.

Mike Query

Episode one, huh? First issue.

Russ Ewell

Absolutely.

While the internet and all things derived from and connected to our extraordinary global network, one writer called the invisible continent, while that’s all amazing, it cannot achieve the randomness of walking in the midst of books, wandering, exploring, free of algorithms and advertisements. It was on just such a walk that I discovered a book called Adult Children of Alcoholics. It created a breakthrough for me in self-awareness and helping me apply the Bible as I’d never applied it before. Digging deep, removing thorns, removing rocks, dealing with the hard places in my heart, softening them, helping me to declutter my mind to understand my whys and my hows and the influence they had on my what’s so I could rebuild my relationship with God in my life in my 30s. Bookstores are unmatched as are libraries for their browsing experience. I’m not a luddite; I’m not saying let’s get rid of technology. What I’m saying is that there was a book that opened my mind. 

Self-awareness is about being able to look at yourself honestly. John 8:31-32 says that when we embrace the teachings of Jesus, that we know the truth and then the truth will set us free.

I think that’s what this first, you know, section of our spiritual life skills of our Best Life series is about. 

So what’s interesting about all this is that depth is something that Jesus experienced. Again, what I really want to set up for everybody right now is that this series is about growth. And I actually think there’s sometimes a divide between Christians who believe that we ought to always grow and Christians who believe that once you become a Christian and you’re saved, you just sort of enjoy being in that state. I think God has a plan for our life. Philippians 3 talks about Paul saying that he wants to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of him. That there’s a purpose that God has in our lives and I think we grow into that purpose if we want to. 

In Luke chapter 2 in verse 39 through 40, 

“when Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth…” 

Now listen to this one Mike, 

“…and the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him.”

Long before Jesus walked on the earth as the Son of God, he was the Son of Joseph and Mary. This was part of saving mankind. He had to be human and had to experience being human and one of the keys to being human is the development of skills to live life.

If Jesus never learned life skills, he would never have become the Son of God. Can you imagine if Jesus never learned to take care of himself and instead demanded that his parents figure out everything in his life for him? This is why the Bible makes a point of the fact that Jesus grew. Not everyone is willing to grow. Not everybody’s willing to say, hey, I’ve got to grow as a human being. Then in Luke 2 and verse 41,

 “Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of Passover. When he was 12 years old, they went up to the festival according to the custom.” 

Now, when he went on up to that Passover, he ended up talking with all these teachers at 12 years old. So, he was a little bit of a phenom. But what was he a phenom at? He’d grown into being somebody at age 12 that could manifest a level of awareness, both spiritual, emotional, mental, physical awareness, that I think meant he had grown. And then in Luke 2:52 it says:

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.”

That there was just something about that kid. And I think people saw him and I think they were like, there’s something about that kid. What was it? He was growing. He wasn’t getting stunted or stagnated by the challenges of life. And I think that we need to understand. People say, well, that’s just normal growth. No, it’s not. When people grow up, sometimes we face difficulties and pains in life that can stunt our growth. One of the beauties of becoming a Christian is you can overcome those stunts and you can overcome that stagnation of your growth. 

In Hebrews 5:14, in fact, the writer in Hebrews says, 

“Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

So there’s a growth that Jesus experienced and that God wants us to experience that’s about getting to that point where you’re able to possess the kind of skills that allow you to fulfill the purposes that God has in mind for you and allow you to function in a life in a way that you can fulfill those purposes. In Ephesians 3.20 it says, 

“Now to him who’s able to do it measurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen.”

There’s a power that God puts in us. The Bible teaches us in Acts 2:38 that we receive the Holy Spirit and when we receive the Holy Spirit, people got baptized they receive the Holy Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit we receive power and what’s that power for? The Bible says in Ephesians 3:20 it’s at work within us to do something. It’s not just for us to just sit there, it’s for us to become something. 

Now this is profound. A friend of mine who passed away recently named Sam Lang, he used to speak and talk about this, that Jesus had no strengths because he had no weaknesses. And I always found that a really cool statement. That means total balanced growth. And I think the best life, now I don’t think we’re going to attain to the level of growth Jesus attained to. That’s like the full maximum potential of a human being, which I mean, we can strive for it, but we’d have to have absolutely no sin to get there because that’s the key with sin. Sin we should think about as prohibitive to growth, that it slows our growth. Instead of us always putting sin in the shame category or the embarrassment category or the less category, we should just say, those are the things that are going to inhibit my growth. If I don’t grow in my love, there’s probably a sin doing that to me. If I don’t grow in my confidence, there’s probably a sin that’s being used against me, maybe to give me false guilt, but it’s being used against me. And so to me, think one of the things I want to go back, know, is Albus Dumbledore. We go back to that quote. I love it. It matters not what someone is born but what they grow to be. I think it’s important that everybody understand that our series is to help people grow. You may have a special need like my sons. You may have a learning disability. You may have a mental health challenge. You may have a physical disability. You may have a relationship problem that has been in your life for a long time that has caused you to have some damage to your life going forward. Whatever it may be, the best life is about being able to get the tools to overcome and accomplish.