Do you want to be that person who is always saying profound and prophetic things? You know the person who seems like no matter what comes out of their mouth it is just dripping with biblical wisdom and maturity. They reek of holiness. They just project godliness. You know who and what I’m talking about.
I can get you there. I can. I’m confident of it.
How?
It seems like everyone is selling the fast track. We are bombarded with advertisements to “Get rich quick!”or “Lose weight in 14 days!” The faster…the better. Is this another scheme? Let’s call it: “Two weeks to John Piper!”
Hardly. When we talk about spiritual growth it simply doesn’t work this way. It can’t. When you think about spiritual growth you think in terms of a roast not a microwave. It takes time. It has to.
Here’s how it works. If you are a Christian then you must daily give yourself to reading the Bible, contemplating it, delighting in it, and studying it (Ps. 1). Like tea leaves in steeping in the water so too the Christian just steeps in the Word. They are just absorbed with the truth and it begins to seep into every crevice of the soul.
As a newer Christian who did not grow up with any Bible background I found myself drawn to the mature in the faith. How did they get there? Surely all of these guys were not just “wicked smahht”as I said. I decided to ask them. I got the same answers: “I read my Bible every morning when I get up. I try to pray regularly.”
I thought, “I can do this.”
Several years later I became a pastor. In my position I often found myself spending time with guest speakers at the church. Whether driving them around or making sure their needs were met before they preached, I was often with them. Some of these guys are the influential authors and pastors that we all read and listen to. I decided to ask them the same questions. You probably know what I’m going to say. It was the same thing. In a moment these theological blue-bloods were just like me: simple guys who grind out their Bible reading, prayer and study day after day. They were weak, dependent, faithful Christian men.
This principle for growth was captured in the business book The Compound Effect. The basic premise is that consistent deposits over will create great wealth over a long period of time. The frequent deposit of Bible into the heart of a Christian will, over time, yield great maturity. This is, of course, nothing new.
This is tremendously liberating of course. You and I don’t have to jump on the next evangelical fad that will make us super Christians. In fact we don’t even need a special app for it! We just need what the original Christians in Ephesus or Antioch or Rome needed: we need the Bible and some discipline to read and apply it.
At the same time this is convicting. You and I have no excuses. As too many NFL coaches have profoundly said, ”We are…who we are.” Who we are in terms of our godliness (from a human perspective) is due in large part to the time, effort, and discipline we put into our daily devotions. Paul talked about boxing in such a way that he doesn’t beat the air. He did not have time, energy or reps to waste. He made every punch count. This is the type of stewardship that we need. Every single day we work hard to get more of this Bible into the deep crevices of our minds and hearts so that it will leave footprints of faithfulness in our lives.
It is also encouraging. If you have been spiritually lazy and not giving the Bible its rightful place. If you have been banking on the “Get spiritual quick” schemes then you can make the change. You can realize that you cannot microwave your holiness. You don’t start talking like John Piper or DA Carson by simply saying “I’d like to be a godly man.” You and I have got to decide to walk the slow, winding narrow path of biblical faithfulness day after day. Then, after a period of time we will turn around, and, by God’s grace, say, “God has changed me.” This is how he does it.