Why It’s Scriptural and Smart to Prioritize Your Personal Growth
The More You Grow the More You Flow
If the ax is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10
“If I had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my ax.” Abraham Lincoln
“Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it’s almost always due to personal growth.” John Maxwell
Keep Growing, Keep Sharpening Who God Made You to Be
Did you know that Henry Ford was previously bankrupt and left penniless FIVE TIMES before successfully founding Ford Automobile?
Walt Disney was fired from his first job at the Kansas City Star newspaper because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Ironically, years later, The Walt Disney Company purchased the Kansas City Star.
Albert Einstein’s parents and teachers were concerned that he was mentally handicapped because he did not begin to speak until the age of 4 or read until he was 7. He was eventually expelled from school and denied entry to the Zurich Polytechnic School.
Jack London, the author of White Fang and Call of the Wild, submitted his first story over 600 times before being accepted by a publisher.
On and on it goes, from Elvis Presley to Vincent Van Gogh, to Thomas Edison, to Hall of Fame football player Kurt Warner. People who at one time were not good at what they wanted to do, became excellent.
How does that happen? How does a person go from bad to average, from average to good, from good to great?
Growth. God has given us the amazing ability to grow, improve, develop, and sharpen our skills to very high levels.
Purpose thinkers are devoted to continual growth and improvement.
They don’t leave it to chance. They take what God has entrusted to them, focus, and take intentional, committed steps to grow and improve.
You simply cannot find any person who continues to increase their impact who does not increase their skills. Whether it’s prayer skills, Bible knowledge, speaking, singing, selling, coding, or team building….purpose pursuers always think in terms of growth, improvement, sharpening their axes.
Even the Son of God took His own growth and development seriously. Luke 2:52 tells us that “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
Jesus said He only did and taught what the Father showed Him to do and say (John 5:19), but He had to learn how to interact with the Father as a man. Jesus quoted the Scriptures and interpreted them perfectly, but those words did not just jump in His brain while He was goofing off on the Sea of Galilee beaches. He had to study and apply Himself to take the written word and make it His own.
Paul’s Instructions to Timothy
The Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15); and
“Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” (1Timothy 4:14–16)
Notice the words the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use:
Be diligent
Workman
Accurately
Do not neglect
Take pains
Be absorbed in them
Progress
Pay close attention
Persevere
Growth is Encouraging
Yes, God promises to complete the good work He starts in us. Yes, Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. Yes, Christianity makes the shift from religious thinking of “what I must do” to “what God has already done.”
But there is also this incredible opportunity God presents to us. God wants us to know the joy, the fulfillment, and the impact of taking what He entrusts to us, developing it, growing it, and using it to change the world.
It was always so exciting to me when I worked hard to develop a sports related skill; hitting a baseball, shooting a basketball, making a tackle, lifting weights, and seeing improvement, especially in areas that mattered to me.
Despite hours of preparation, the first sermon I ever gave was completely done in only 12 minutes. But I kept practicing and working at it, and eventually, I could teach the Bible in a way that changed lives for 30–40 minutes week after week. It is so exciting to see the work I put in change people’s lives.
No one wants to get to the end of their life and say, “Well, that was a waste. I lived a very comfortable, boring, non-productive life.” Only people who have given up intentionally settle for that.
But in your heart, you know that God made you and put you here to know Him, grow in Him, and expand His kingdom through your skills and work.
Growth is God’s Will for You
Marshall Goldsmith has been voted the top executive coach in the world numerous times by his peers. One of the books he wrote is titled, What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There. The main premise is to keep progressing in your career, you have to keep growing and adding, improving your skills because the next level requires more than the previous level.
That is true of God’s purposes as well. To live ALL of God’s purposes will require your growth. It will require you to study, practice, stretch, and “take pains with these things.” God calls you, He invites you, He cheers you on, and He will give you grace and favor and things you could not possibly get on your own….but He will not make you do it.
The five talent servant and the two talent servant took what the owner entrusted to them, and they grew it, they developed it and increased it. Taking action like that comes from a way of thinking, it comes from a belief system. It comes from what Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck calls the “Growth Mindset.”
The Growth Mindset
Through years of solid and well-substantiated research, Professor Dweck found that mindset was one of the most important factors in long-term success and progress. She teaches people either have a “fixed mindset” or a “growth mindset.”
The fixed mindset says, “My intelligence is set. Either I’m smart, or I’m not, there is not really anything I can do about it.” The growth mindset says, “Intelligence and ability are not set forever. But, through effort, it can improve.”
In working with struggling students, Professor Dweck found that when she taught them how the brain worked and that through practice and effort, the brain develops new pathways and connections, improving intelligence and skills it helped build faith in them.
Students who previously had been stuck began to steadily improve their learning. One student said to her, “So I don’t have to stay dumb?”
This young man had been taught by teachers with a “fixed mindset.” He had taken intelligence and aptitude tests, and those tests said he was mentally challenged. But Dweck says that these kinds of tests are merely snapshots of where a person is at that point in time. They do not have to be permanent.
The fixed mindset says, intelligence is set, and you really can’t do anything about it. But that is flat-out wrong. A boatload of good research has proven that the brain has incredible abilities to rewire itself and make substantial changes.
Why Lesser Talented People Can Do Better than Higher Talented People
That is why in some instances, people who will diligently work and practice the right way can often overtake people with initially higher scores or abilities who have a fixed mindset. The Bible definitely endorses a growth mindset.
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind….” Romans 12:2
“Set your mind on the things above….” Colossians 3:2a
“If there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on (ponder) these things.” Philippians 4:9d.
The truth is, no one continues to grow close to their potential without believing they can improve and include growth practices in their schedule.
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