About seven months ago, I was a completely different person. About seven days ago, I was also a completely different person. I believe that everyday, God is changing and molding my life and I either move towards him or away from him. There is no stagnation with Jesus. More often than I am proud to admit, I put in a minimal amount of effort into my relationship with the Lord. He deserves my very best, yet I give him just enough to check the box. This past week, I did some activities on some leadership principles that have renewed my mind on the growth process. The 80/20 rule accompanied by the implementation of SMART goals has helped me to get down to the meat and potatoes of what it means to grow with God.
For starters, when I think about christian growth, I think about the fruit of the Spirit. Being rich in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control is the picture perfect example of what a mature follower of Christ looks like. After all, that’s what Christ himself displayed. God develops these characteristics in us overtime. In my life, I would try to do a list of things in hopes increasing my growth, as if I had anything to do with it. Through the lessons this past week, God showed me the importance of just spending quality time with him. The 80/20 rule explains how 80% of a result will come from 20% of the things we do. With this in mind, God began to reveal to me how he is the sole source of growth. In 1 Corinthians 3:7, Paul tells us that “neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” Just allowing the Lord to have my time and sitting with him is where the 20% is. He is God, and by him alone does anything happen.
Now, it’s easy to say “Ok God, I’m gonna spend time with you” and leave it at that. However, I found that the most efficient way to stick to a plan is by setting SMART goals. These are basically just in depth plans on how to reach a goal. Before, when I set goals I would make them unclear and sort of questionable so that I didn’t have to deal with failure. As a result of this, I didn’t taste success either. So, to create more integrity and intentionality, I made attainable and well thought out steps as to how, when, and where I would spend time with God. These new and improved goals have been a great source of accountability and have helped me to see when I am actually making progress.
In these last two months, I want to grow deeper with Jesus than I ever have in my entire life. I am tired of the apathetic route which results in disappointment and drifts me away. It is time to take a stand as a man and richly invest in the right treasure.
