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Writer's pictureGracie Berney

Growth III - Continue the Hard Work

Hard work takes time, effort and discipline.



Hello friend and welcome back to another post! This week’s devotional is a continuation of the series we started a couple weeks ago. (If you haven’t read the previous posts please try to do so and don’t forget to leave a comment. I enjoy hearing back from you.)

I didn’t get the chance to watch any of the Olympics live this year; although, I have been able to watch some of the clips on YouTube since then. However, one thing that was evident from watching the athletes was their determination to win all the events they were competing in.


However, all of that determination is useless without hardwork. To accomplish anything substantial in life, hard work is a requirement. This is also true for growth which happens after hard work is put in.


In the previous blog posts about growth, most of the things mentioned takes hard work. However, today's post is to provide some encouragement when you are in the middle of it all in a post titled "Continue the Hard Work". And by hard work, I mean the times that growth is hard to maintain because of all the work you have to put in.


The book of James has a lot of to say about about hard work and what our attitude should be like during that time. James 1:3 - 4 states: "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."[KJV]


While the verses do not explicitly mentioned hard work, please allow me to use "trying of your faith" to signify this. Personally, the times I've gone through the most growth, have also been the times my faith was tried the most. However, James is wanting us to know that during the hardest phases of growth, we are gaining so much more depth to our faith. In the verses above, he mentions patience and then notes that when patience has had a perfect work in us, we become perfect and entire [complete], not wanting anything.


Let's just pause and think about the last paragraph for a moment. Then to reiterate, we can see that, in the midst of hard work, we learn patience. And after we have had a good grasp on patience, perfection is attained. At this point, our faith becomes complete.


But make no mistake, patience isn't easy. So many times, I find myself asking God to help me in the area of patience. It is difficult and I can see why it produces perfection.


Think about it: If you get to a point where you do not complain or worry or get upset about any issue, because you are either patient with God's timing, patient with your fellow human or trust that everything will work of for a reason, then you are most likely a perfect Christian. But truth is, the majority of us are fine until the hard work becomes too much or too long.... Often times, this is when we begin to complain or become upset.


However, James 1:12 notes "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."


James is admonishing that in the middle of our hardest seasons which produces some of the biggest growth in our lives, we need to endure.


Hard work takes time, effort and discipline. Back to the olympic athletes I mentioned earlier, without putting in the time, effort or the discipline, their goal of becoming olympic champions will not see the light of day.


The same is true for a Christian. WIthout spending time in God's Word and prayer; putting an effort in learning patience and staying disciplined to endure all the difficulties you will face, major growth won't happen.


Conclusion

Today's title image is a bamboo leaf. I learned this past week that a chinese bamboo tree takes about 5 years to grow. However, it doesn't break ground for the entire five years and then at the 5 year mark it not only break ground, but also grows up to 90 feet in 5 months. During the 5 years, the soil where the seed is planted still has to be watered, fertilized and cared for. It's a lot of hard work, but all of that pays off in the end when that tree grows to maturity.


Perhaps you are experiencing something similar. Maybe none of the hard work you're putting into spiritual life is showing. My encouragement for you is to be patient and keep enduring. Like James encourages us, your perfection time is coming.


Challenge

This week:

  1. I want to encourage you to take inventory of where you are at in your growth journey.

  2. Simply encourage you to keep up the hard work in your growth journey

  3. Encourage you to share areas of growth in your life, or just where you are at spiritually. You never know who it might encourage.

Stay Blessed


Image credit:

Wix

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