How do you Measure Spiritual and Character Progress?
One of the great benefits of being a dad to four boys is that I have 12+ years of free lawn mowers living under my roof. I’ve been waiting a long time for someone to mow my grass for free and I now have it in the form of my four sons.
Every once in a while, however, I like to throw on my headphones and an old pair of sneakers and cut the grass. This especially is true when it’s not a typical 100+ degree summer day in Texas.
A few weekends ago my boys were busy with sports and school projects, so I got to mow the grass. One thing I love about lawn mowing is that you can see immediate progress. What was once long grass is immediately cut down to a short cut. You can see the progress right before your eyes.
Call me strange, but as I cut the grass, I wondered why all of life couldn’t be more like cutting the grass. I found myself discouraged by what often looks like a lack of progress. We (metaphorically) throw on the headphones and old sneakers and work hard on something but don’t see anything change.
So often in life we don’t get to see progress.
We get up early, read our bibles, and pray but we still struggle with the same old sins.
We work out and eat healthy but the number never changes on the scale.
Maybe we selflessly serve behind the scenes and no one ever notices our efforts.
We all do so much that no one sees and doesn’t look like progress.
Sometimes we work and work and we don’t see noticeable results and immediate progress. It feels like we keep running the mower over the lawn and the grass never gets shorter.
A simple reminder: Keep going and be faithful
Today I simply want to encourage you to keep going and keep being faithful. Whether you can see the results or not, keep going. God promises His followers we will change and advance in our faith. In Philippians 1:6 Paul writes, “...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God, who started a good work in you through Jesus will continue to mold and shape you to become more like Christ.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I need a little encouragement to keep going. A friend of mine said, “I’ve tested the warnings of God and found them true. Now, I am trusting his promises.” Whether you can see the progress or not, I want to encourage you to trust God’s promises.
What's Next?
Here’s how you can best process this post. Below are a few questions for you to ask yourself. Be honest in your responses. And then share these questions and your responses with someone else: your spouse, community, accountability partner, or anyone else in your life who spurs you on in your faith.
How do you measure change and progress?
Where are you making progress in your life and where are you stuck/stalled?
Where do you need to trust you're being faithful and simply keep moving forward?
God loves you. Keep going.
And let me know if you want to come mow my grass when all my kids are out of the house!