Magic Bullets

It’s human nature to look for an easier way to do something.  And thank goodness!  Otherwise we’d still be using stone tools and living in caves.  If necessity is the mother of invention, then our desire to have it easier is invention’s father.  We regularly look for the quick fix, a short cut, a magic bullet.  This is especially true when it comes to our spiritual growth.  We go to conferences looking for the magic bullet.  We read books looking for that nugget that will radically change us.  But the spiritual highs wear off.  The promise of quick results fails us.

Let me save you a lot of time.  There is no magic bullet.  First of all, spiritual growth is a gift from God.  Times of accelerated growth are blessings that God bestows on us.  We don’t command them through a secret formula.  Second, spiritual growth happens as we follow Jesus over time.  As you read the Bible regularly for months and years, you begin to change.  A regular connection to God through prayer will transform you.  Just not overnight.  So stay with it.  There is a lot of joy and satisfaction in looking back a year and thinking, “I’m not the same person I was a year ago.  God has changed me for the better.”