Growth

I was reading chapter two in Disciplines for Life and it talks about training yourself to be godly. I believe in God's initiative in salvation. There is plenty of evidence in scripture to support that, but why do I too easily say to myself that my personal growth in God is done completely by him alone? That's foolishness! The truth is God has revealed himself to me and he did make me alive spiritually, there is no doubt about that. I was dead. Dead people can't do anything. As a result of him making me alive, I have a desire to pursue him. That means that I do something with that desire! Take any other relationship in your life. You have to make an effort to talk to the other person, or else there will be no relationship! Relationships are not made by one person. Our relationship with God is not "let go, and let God". We have to read his word, talk to him, listen to him, and be obedient to him.

It's funny when I watch sports and see an amazing athlete and I will neglect to think about how much practice it took for them to get that good. If you want to grow in any area of your life, it takes lots of practice and discipline. As Americans, we tend to say that a person is a natural and doesn't have to work hard to be good at what he or she does. This is ignorance. It takes lots of sacrifice for them to develop their talents.

This quote from Dallas Willard was good:

"The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy."

If we want to grow in godliness, we have to put in the time to grow in this area and ask God for the strength and discipline to do it. That also means, we have to DO it. I pray that the desire of my heart would be to know him more and be obedient to his word.