The Bullet of Growth: “As a Man Thinks”

The Scriptures teach that “as a man thinks so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). We can only think about what we know. The ultimate in living is not knowing facts but knowing the God who made us and created us for His great and joyous purposes!

The reason our time and activates hold no lasting joy and fulfillment, is because they are built around inadequate spiritual knowledge. We think inadequate time is our problem, but it’s not. Even with thirty hours a day we’d work ourselves into the same frantic schedule. Virginia Brasier has captured many lives quite well with the following words:

“This is the age of the half-read page;
And the quick hash, and the mad dash.
The bright night, with the nerves tight.
The plane hop, and the brief stop.
The lamp tan, in a short span.
The Big Shot, in a good spot.
The brain strain, and the heart pain, and the cat naps,
Till the spring snaps – and the fun’s done!”

The Bullet of Growth: Three Principles

There are three principles of growth that are inescapable! If you are to make progress in any area of endeavor you must first, gain knowledge; second, faith-act on that knowledge; and third, patiently allow time to work.

For instance, when I learned to fly for the Air Force, I first had to know something about the principles of flight and the airplane. Second, I faith-acted on this knowledge by pushing the throttle, pulling the stick, kicking the rudder, coordinating the instruments … these initial efforts at “acting” on my “knowledge” were very uncoordinated, rather sloppy and amateurish, and brought on the wrath of my cussing instructor whose expletives I will delete. Only the third principle, time, allowed my to practice (act on) my knowledge until I mastered the challenges of flying and received my wings as a pilot. It was a great moment!

All of life’s pursuits demand the same threefold process … knowledge, faith-acting and time. A doctor, student, pianist, salesman, repairman, coach, bookkeeper, typist, etc., and any other job, form the simplest to the most complex … demands knowledge (content), faith-acts (application), and time (experience)!