“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”
1 Timothy 4:15
“And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.”
Job 8:7
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.”
2 Corinthians 13:5-7
“Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance”
Proverbs 1:5
When God initially created man, He placed him in a garden. I believe that this is God’s favorite place in His creation. God loves things that grow, which means He loves when His people grow.
Progression is important for a man. Without it, he will become depressed.
Look at any older person who has given up on life or who is stuck in their routines and not improving as an individual. They are depressed, sad, and constantly thinking about death. Now contrast that with an older person you know who lives life to the fullest despite their age and grows and improves their ability and character constantly. They are rare, but they do exist, and they are our examples.
To remain the same is to die. However, the majority of men get off track by having overly ambitious expectations for themselves. They attempt too much growth at once, and as a result, they do not grow at all. The example of living, growing trees is useful because it outlines the fact that growth is not expected to happen overnight. There are multiple recorded instances of faith being compared to some kind of tree, as in the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32).
We make the mistake of focusing on the facts of the story: that the mustard tree was first just a seed, and then a giant tree. We forget all the intermediate steps that got the tree to that point of being massive. That tree first is a seed, then tiny shoots of green leaves start to appear. Then it becomes a sapling followed by an adolescent. After a few more years it becomes very tall and finally massive. It reaches these milestones through slow progression, one inch at a time and over a very long period of time. You are to grow as well. Either improve or die.
Affirmation
I Improve, or I Die.
Application
Mindsets – Do not expect your growth to be overnight. Be aware of the fact that you will need long periods of time to make substantial progress on your currently puny character. Do not abandon growth when you have weeks or months where you do not improve at all. Do not abandon growth just because you do not see progress. Just because a tree did not gain visible height does not mean it did not grow. Sometimes there is no growth in height that we can see, only a deepening of the roots.
A key to growth is to take the simplest yet most practical step towards improvement and to do so in a way that is measurable. This includes checking your ego and taking microscopically small steps.
So many people try to take up reading their Bibles each day. They find one of those “Read your Bible in a year” plans and get excited, not realizing they will have to cover at least 4 chapters a day to read the Bible in one year. They are attempting to go from not reading Scripture at all to reading hundreds of verses per day. This would be like never exercising your body then saying, “I think I’ll start a professional bodybuilding workout program where I train twice a day for three hours”.
Maybe they maintain motivation for a few weeks, at least until they get to Leviticus, then they quit.
I would be shocked if those people even made it that far. They failed to check their ego, took on more than their frail constitutions could handle, and burned themselves out. Now they are right back where they were: sitting on the couch, doing nothing, and making no spiritual progress.
The real goal should be sustained long term progress. The only real improvement comes from consistent, steady progression. So instead of trying to read the Bible in a year, the goal should be to read the Bible every day. The amount of Bible you read will not matter if you quit in 12 days. Check your ego and be willing to read one chapter per day, or half of a chapter, or ten verses, or even five verses until you become the person who reads the Bible every day. That is the true goal, not to read the Bible in the year, but to become the type of person who reads the Bible every day without fail.
You might think, “Five verses each day is not a lot of reading”, well it is five more verses than you are reading currently, and five more verses than the majority of so-called “Christians” are reading each day.
Commit to extremely small-scale changes that are sustainable. Do not try to build the Sistine Chapel of habits in a single week. Save yourself the burnout and commit to progress.
Commit to being the type of person who is improving every day. Do not worry your mind about what others are doing (or rather, what they are claiming to do) or how fast you are improving. Focus on your personal progress and be able to measure it. You will never know if you have grown if you do not know where you are or what you are trying to improve. Keep a habit journal or get a paper calendar and check off each day that you read your Bible, even if it is only for five minutes. Doing this will give you visual feedback on your progress, and that will be the positive reinforcement that helps you maintain the habit.
Harden your mind through practice and continual progression.
Do not give in to weakness like the boys around you.
Be strong and powerful and improve yourself.
Conduct yourselves like Men.
