Sometimes God meets with us in a special way. Occasionally a verse or a phrase or a thought can revolutionize our lives, but I have found that those times tend to be rare. Rather, it’s the slow and steady repetition of reading God’s Word, asking Him to change me, and watching as that happens little by little through the weeks, months, and years.

A college student stands in front of the mirror to get a good look at his biceps. Not very impressive. It’s the beginning of the semester and he decides to do something about it. He’s tired of looking wimpy and struggling to open pickle jars, so he resolves to make changes in his life.

So he goes all in. He buys protein powder. Googles what diet he should do and what workout program would work best. Buys new clothes. Goes to the gym, which is packed out, because it’s the first week of the school year. Then he works out for a good hour, comes back to his dorm room, and looks in the mirror.

Nothing has changed, so he quits.

No, he doesn’t quit. You don’t expect to see a drastic change overnight. But he continues to work at it. Some days he misses. Occasionally he cheats on his diet. But he stumbles along, developing the skill of working out and getting better and better at it. After a week nothing looks that different. After a month, you can kind of tell. After a semester, there’s noticeable change. After 5 years, he’s unrecognizable.

No, this isn’t a challenge to make generic resolutions and keep with it. I tell that story because I think it’s a helpful way of thinking about our spiritual growth. Often people get excited to get started on a Bible reading plan, but motivation can quickly evaporate if we don’t think about things rightly. So let’s retell this story from that perspective.

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