“Growing your business 10x more is easier than growing it 10% more.” I chewed on this daring concept for too long. Swished it around like regurgitated cud in the mouth of a cow.
Could that be true in other areas of our life?
Say I read daily five minutes from the Bible. A 10% increase takes me to five minutes thirty seconds. Hardly a difficult change. While 10x more, shifts it to fifty minutes. How could this be easier?
Some of the digital experts immerse themselves into their area of expertise less than my overnight oats soak in Greek yogurt. So they make large promises. How to melt belly fat in two months. How to use seven habits that will turn you into the next Mr. Beast. How to write a book in 15 minutes bursts. Or better said how to do less and make more.
Their suggestions are not terrible. But they turn into a never-ending list of how to self-regulate our habits. So we tweak our reactions, our diets, our routine. 10% kinder. Thirty minutes less screen time. Two hundred calories decrease. Our brains sweat over the ongoing incremental suggestions we should make.
My point to all the blabber above is that tweaking is no more than sewing a sturdy fabric on a worn out garment. Should I aim to become “a slightly better person”, or should I check “if I love and serve sacrificially as Jesus did”?
What I love about my faith is that the Holy Spirit is not about tweaks and edits. It’s about radical transformation. It’s about a new garment, not new patches (Matt 9:16). It’s about laboring to give to others, not just stopping to steal (Eph. 4). It’s about “plucking your eyeball” if that’s the sponsor of sin, not only restricting a website (Matt. 5:29). It’s about digital fast, not selective scrolling. It’s about numbering our days more than our calories. It’s about outdoing one another in showing honor, not comparing and complaining about one another (Rom.12).
What area of my life needs radical transformation, and not mild tweaks? Is it gentleness in relationships? Is it being a light switch in a dark world? Is it my struggle with digital gluttony? Is it allowing my skills to rust? Is it about being a consumer and not a producer in my church? Is it being satisfied with the verse of the day? Is it being ruled by my fluctuating emotions, or my past?
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 ESV
In God’s economy, this math adds up. When the zeal of the Lord consumes us, we don’t settle for 10% growth, we desire a ten-fold increase. May we adopt John’s words, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30 ESV)