Our personal growth is something we shouldn’t neglect. If we don’t put time and effort into it, we can’t develop the skills God’s given us and be fully effective in His kingdom, or grow our relationship with Him. Here are three misconceptions about personal growth: 1) Growth only comes through experience. Imagine a footballer who spends hours kicking the ball at the goal every day, but never manages to get it in the net. They might have plenty of experience in kicking the ball, but in all that time they’ve never actually improved their game. Experience is only valuable if we learn from it. In order to grow, we need to constantly assess how we’re doing and readjust to get a better result next time. 2) Growth only comes through knowledge. Ever known someone who was very intelligent, but never seemed to accomplish anything of benefit for God, themselves, or others? They’re like an encyclopaedia filled with knowledge that has no value because it’s never used. A huge obstacle to personal growth isn’t ignorance, but having knowledge without the wisdom or desire to apply it. The Bible says, ‘Don’t just listen to God’s word…do what it says’ (James 1:22 NLT). 3) Growth is automatic. When we’re children, there are parents, teachers and trainers challenging us to develop on a daily basis, so without realising, we get used to being encouraged to grow. The problem comes when we get older and nobody is pushing us to grow or go any further. The truth is, we need to take responsibility for our own personal growth; otherwise it won’t happen. We need to make that choice.

What Now?

Is there a skill you’ve been neglecting recently? Make the decision to pick it back up. Create yourself some targets for what you’d like to achieve I terms of growing that skill – one for a week from now, one for a month from now, and one for a year’s time.