There’s an old joke about a young boy who continually fell out of bed. No matter what the parents did, nothing helped. One night, the parents heard a loud thump, ran to their son’s room, and found him on the floor. The dad asked what had happened. The boy said, I guess I stayed too close to the place where I got in.

When it comes to spiritual maturity, most Christians can say the same thing: I’ve stayed too close to where I got in. In other words, we haven’t grown much since we first became believers. It’s not that believers don’t desire a mature walk with Jesus. Most followers don’t know how to grow.

In Love Like Jesus, author Rev. Dr. Robert L. Morris Jr. offers an in-depth look at the Beatitudes, Jesus’ teaching on spiritual growth. Jesus teaches the eight steps in the growth cycle, and each spiritual truth builds on the one(s) previously taught. He began with the necessity of mourning and concluded with a victorious faith during times of persecution.

Morris discusses that to learn to love as Jesus loves, we must become more like him. Spiritual growth is not a stroll in the park; it’s an intentional lifelong journey with a mixture of hardships and victories. But it’s always worth the trip. In the end, our hearts will be transformed, and we’ll become more and more like the savior. The Beatitudes are the pathway, the starting place.