The Power of Consistency
Three Reasons Why Consistency Beats Excitement in Your Group
Imagine a leaky faucet. Regardless of how you hard you twist the knob, it still drips. One drop at a time. Incessantly—drip, drip, drip. The consistency becomes an annoyance pretty quickly. But put in the right environment and given enough time, that same dripping with that same consistency can have an immense amount of power.
That’s how canyons are made. Not all at once, but through the power of consistency.
Dripping isn’t that exciting, but what it lacks in flash it makes up for in effectiveness. There’s a lot to be said for the power of consistency.
When we lead people in the way of discipleship, one of the issues we must deal with is the boring nature of it all. I mean, there are only so many ways you can “spice up” the habits that characterize consistent growth in Christ.
In the end, there will be many days when you and the people you lead won’t feel like reading the Bible. They won’t feel like praying. They won’t feel like memorizing Scripture or serving or doing any of the other practices of spiritual development. Consequently, we might be tempted to reframe or describe spiritual growth as some grand adventure completely free of drudgery. While it’s true that at times growing in Christ will feel like that, it’s also true that many times it won’t.
In the end, what we’ll find is that consistency wins over excitement time and time again. And here are a few reasons why:
- Consistency emphasizes faith over experience.What makes someone get up and do the same thing day after day day regardless of whether they feel like it or not? You could argue that it’s simply being a creature of habit, but you could also say that such action is driven forward by faith.
You do the same spiritual practices because you genuinely believe that the Bible is the Word of God. You truly believe God hears you when you pray. The alternative to this kind of consistency is a life driven by experience. If that’s the case, your spiritual development is like a yo-yo moving up and down with the flippancy of emotion.
2 Corinthians 5
Our Eternal Dwelling
…6Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. 7For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.…
2 Corinthians 4
Treasures in Jars of Clay
…15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is extending to more and more people may overflow in thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though ourouter self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles.…
- Consistency causes roots to grow deep.When you opt for consistency over excitement, you are developing the kind of practices that will carry you through the seasons of spiritual dryness all of us will encounter. In other words, your roots are growing deep.
When we integrate the same, repeated practices into our lives, day after day, we will find that when we eventually don’t feel anything, when we are suffering, when we simply can’t pray anymore, that our roots will have extended well past the shallows.
Colosians 2
Alive in Christ
6Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, 7rootedand built up in Him, established in the faith asyou were taught, and overflowing withthankfulness. 8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.
- Consistency works into other areas of life.One of the side benefits of this kind of spiritual discipline is that it will work into other areas of life as well. You’ll find, I believe, that not only are you disciplined “spiritually” but physically, emotionally, and mentally as well. But then again, that’s why “spiritually” is in quotes, because I seem to remember Jesus saying that we should love God not only spiritually but with every part of ourselves.
Time is a powerful ally. Drip, drip, drip. One drop at a time. And slowly, the landscape changes.
Galatians 6
Carry One Another’s Burdens
…8The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.
Michael Kelley