Have you ever felt like you weren’t making much progress?

It’s difficult sometimes being rather than doing.  The pace is so fast that it seems like there’s never enough time to focus on the things that are important to us.

If you want to learn more after reading this post, be sure to check out ‘The Me I Want to Be’ by John Ortberg.

I bet there are some areas where you’ve been trying harder lately.  Good for you!  However, we can only try harder for so long.  Eventually we get tired and when we get tired we quit and feel guilty.  Eventually the whole cycle begins again and we try even harder.  Sound familiar?  Ortberg talks about this in his book.

If we’re real ambitious, we want to fix everything all at once.  But rather than doing that, what if we just focused on one thing.  For example, if you want to lose 20 pounds, why not try to do it in 60 days rather than one week?  See the difference.

Very rarely in the bible did God try to fix someone in one week.  Sometimes it took 40 years.  For example, Moses spent 40 years in the desert.  If you think that’s a long time, the nation of Israel spent 400 years in Egypt!  Again, God usually isn’t in much of a hurry.

Ultimately, most of us would like to be a certain way.  As fast as possible.  Some of us want larger houses.  Larger bank accounts. Notoriety.  Influence and respect.  None of those are bad things.  The challenge is that quite often we want to be someone other than the person God intended us to be.  What if I told you, God had more in mind when he imagined your life?

It’s so easy to spend large amounts of time and energy trying harder.  However, despite our greatest efforts, there are gaps.

The good news is that God loves us and works with and for us.

In the words of Ortberg, “grace is not opposed to effort, but it is opposed to earning.”  It’s not that we shouldn’t try. We should.  However, at the end of the day, we can rest knowing that God blesses our efforts.

In the meantime, as we labor, it’s good to know that God is gracious.  How gracious?  He even gives us the seed, the strength to plant it and the rain and sun to grow it.  He also gives us the wisdom and skill to plant and harvest.

So how does God reap a good harvest in our lives?  It starts with me and you.

More than what you ‘do’ God is interested in who you are becoming.  Sure, there are some areas of your life that you have down pat.  However, as long as you live, there will be areas still under development.

How do we know if we’re becoming the person he wants us to be?

We can tell, when we grow in our love for him and others.

For example, your finances.  Do you use them to love him and others more than you did last year or are you selfish?  Health.  Is your health allowing you to love him and others more than five years ago.  Your job.  Do you love him and others more on the job than you did six months ago?

In some cases there may be a gap between the person you are and the person God wants you to become.

Ortberg says: God’s plan is for you to become the best version of you, but right now there are two versions of you. There is the you God made you to be—and there is the you that currently exists. What do you do with the gap?

It all boils down to faith.  Trusting him and taking the steps necessary to cooperate with his plan for our lives.

Ulitmately, its not all about YOU!  God is more interested in your development as you love Him and the people he has placed in your life than YOUR self-purification/sin management plan.

Rather than just taking life as it comes, with God’s help we can establish the areas that need changing and take the daily steps necessary to experience transformation.  Just as we witnessed in this last Olympics, the steps we take today determine the person we’ll become in years to come.  Athletes don’t become Gold Medal Olympians over night

Why not take one of these steps today?

1. Buy a book written by experts that addresses the area you’re working on.
2. Pray for 1 minute a day about this issue for the next 30 days.
3. Exercise 5 minutes a day.  This is a keystone habit which means that an improvement in this area affects all of the areas of our lives.
4. Get up 30 minutes earlier every day and give yourself more time to relax and set the tone of your day.
5. Intentionally set aside a block of time each week to spend with a loved one.
6. Take a walk outside and reflect on where you are and where you feel God wants you to be.

These are only some examples to get you started.  Ultimately, if we want to take control of our lives, it’s going to require carving out time daily.

“Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” Matthew 6:33 The Message