Tripping over our own feet, unable to get out of our own way, taking one step backward for every two steps forward, we must press on and pursue maturity by recognizing and embracing that our successes and failures neither save nor condemn us; rather, they witness to a holy God who has called his people out of darkness and into his marvelous light. We must listen to what the gospel whispers into our ears. We must silence the world around us and listen to the only words that bring life.

Consider Dave.

He’s not a real guy, but he’s all too real at the same time.

Dave, a Christian, pursues a holy life, reads his Bible, prays, goes to church, and lives as best he knows how. He’s not a “punch-list” believer who completes tasks just because he knows he should. Dave genuinely desires holiness, but the strength of his desire for growth doesn’t negate his propensity to struggle. He wrestles with depending on God. He grows angry at his private failures from which he has repented over and over again. In his heart, he feels he should be much farther along in his faith. Dave equates the message of the world to be “bigger, better, faster, stronger” with his desire to be “truer, purer, holier.” He is trapped by a lie that perpetuates a cycle of angst, dysfunction, and despondency in himself; his mushrooming shortcomings force him to the end of his rope.

The “never-slackening pace of self-improvement know-how” bullies Dave, and others like him—both believer and unbeliever—into a pattern of pursuit: achievement, fulfillment, money, significance, power, impact, and the like.

I suspect a lot of people, myself included, are a lot like Dave.

The Insipid Danger of Doing

We strive, often for good things, because our culture links output with value. And something deep within us longs for the approval that comes with being viewed as a productive member of society. So we do X, Y, and Z. Again. And again. The pressures and promises of progress churn excited energy into torrents of activity intended to realize ephemeral goals and increase our sense of worth.

On the surface, the mindset fosters one’s growth, but the undercurrent threatens one’s peace. The culture around us compels this cycle of increase, pushing and normalizing the malicious “more.” There will always be more weight to lose, more money to make, and more yield for the investment of our time, money, and energy. Sliding in and beckoning with promises of a greater sense of accomplishment and self-worth, “more” becomes the only acceptable outcome. But a lack of movement only serves to exacerbate the problem for many. When the gains stall, people grow in their discontentment, and that malaise spreads to every sphere of life. The driest spiritual periods of my life, when I have felt the most helpless, the most hopeless, and the most joyless, came when I was laboring the hardest. I tried to sprinkle a little Jesus everywhere in my life in hopes that doing so would grow my faith.

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