Stop Looking For A Payoff Without the Process

God is the author of success.

He is the Creator and He loves growth. If you’ve never thought about it this way before, consider what Genesis tells us: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Scripture goes on to explain how God created vegetation: plants and trees. He created living creatures each according to their kind. He created human beings, and in us He put the capacity to reproduce. The growth and improvement process is woven into the very fabric of our world.

Adam and Eve were the only people in history who started life fully formed. Every other person took nine months (give or take) in the womb and eighteen years in the world to grow to adulthood. What if God is using all these things in nature to try to teach us how He likes to grow things?

Physical growth as children was automatic for all but a few of us. However, every other kind of growth is optional. God shows us how it can work, and He invites us into it. But we have to choose whether or not to accept the invitation. We can resist it, but if we do, we’re going against the very way results come — through growth.

Let’s say you’re interested in owning a business. How long does that take to develop? First, you need to know how to create a product or provide a service that people want & need. That takes time. Malcolm Gladwell suggests that people at the top of their profession invested over ten thousand hours to develop their skills. A start-up business also needs seed money. Have you ever thought about why people call it that: seed money? Because they know that creating a business is a growth process. The money helps you plant the seed in your business. But you must water, weed, and fertilize before it produces a return.

How long does it take to grow a Super Bowl–winning football team? To answer that, start by looking at the players. If the players’ average age is about twenty-five, then it takes those twenty-five years of coaching and leadership to get that person ready to play on the team. It takes the organization decades to finance the team and get it ready to excel. It takes the coaches an entire career to ready themselves to coach. All that happens before the winning season even starts! There is no fast track. It’s a long, slow process — and you can’t cheat it.

How long does it take to grow a spiritually mature follower of Jesus Christ, someone who produces a return of thirty-, sixty-, or a hundred-fold for the kingdom of God?

We want the answer to be days, weeks, or months. The parable of the sower reminds us that God works more slowly...

• Some people have a hard heart and may never soften toward God and receive the seed of His truth.
• Others receive the seed but never put down roots and grow.
• Still others may develop depth, but the weeds of worry, or the pursuit of pleasure and wealth chokes their growth out.

There is one more group that’s different, the ones who produce. How long does it take for them to grow, mature, and produce? It takes years or decades. It’s never pray and then poof — you’re mature. It’s a slow process of growth.

Even Jesus took time to grow before His life began yielding the results for which He came to earth. He, too, grew in the womb for nine months. He waited twelve years before He taught in the temple courts. He studied and prepared until age thirty before He began teaching as a rabbi. He selected and trained His twelve disciples for three years before He publicly confessed to be the Messiah. Could Jesus have skipped the entire growth process? Perhaps. But He didn’t. Maybe He was trying to teach us something...

If Jesus didn't skip the growth process Himself, why would we expect to?

If we want to become competent in our careers, we need to expect to grow into them. Learning to run the bases the right way takes time and growth. God created us to be in a growth journey for the entirety of our lives. As long as you are breathing, you have the potential to grow to a new level. You can still learn something. You can train in your talents so that they take you to a new place. You can take your leadership from a "5" to a "6", or from an "8" to a "9". You can become excellent at your craft. And God desires that you do just that. Results matter to Him.

God wants us to grow and succeed, but often we pray asking God to give us a payoff without the process. We want to harvest without having to purchase the land, plow the soil, plant the seed, water the plants, weed the field, feed the crops, and wait until harvest season. Our desires defy the very nature of God’s design in creation and in us. God wants us to win, but He expects us to grow our skills, develop our talents, and sharpen our leadership competence. He wants us to train.

When we stop running from the process, we may just find that the preparation is part of His plan.