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devotional and small group exercise

Improving Your Process for Spiritual Growth

Michael Zigarelli

Among the famous business adages is this little gem: “Your process is designed perfectly to produce your outcome.”

This is a truism not just in business, of course, but in everyday life. My golf swing, for example, is “designed perfectly” to slice every tee shot into the woods and to shank almost every approach shot into a sand trap. It’s a remarkably consistent phenomenon.

My process for grocery shopping is designed perfectly to require me to backtrack through the store at least three times. My process for getting the kids to school in the morning is designed perfectly to have them arrive exactly two minutes late each day. When I was in school, my process for test preparation was designed perfectly to earn B minuses.

You get the idea. What comes out is a direct result of what we put in. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s not so good, but either way, we can’t escape the cause-and-effect connection.

Consider the state of your physique. Whether you look like an Olympian or you more closely resemble The Blob, that’s largely a result of the “process” you’ve followed to condition your body. This health management process—your diet, your exercise regimen (or lack thereof), the amount of rest you get, whether you take vitamins, etc.—has produced exactly what you see in the mirror when you step out of the shower. Whether that’s a pretty sight or not, look again in the mirror to identify the culprit: it’s the process owner.

Or consider your work system—how things get done (or don’t get done) in your workplace. The process you follow determines both the successes and the dysfunctions. If you’re on the factory floor, you put certain materials into one end of the assembly line and you’ll get a specific product at the other end, over and over again. The quality is the same until you change the process. Upstairs in the front office, things are no different. Run a meeting the same unfocused way they’ve always been run and you’ll get the same blank stares and lack of meaningful action you’ve always gotten.

The point here is that for every set of inputs there’s a corresponding, inextricably-linked set of outcomes. Change in the latter only comes from change in the former. Guaranteed.

Now, take a moment and apply this axiom to your spiritual life, in particular the extent to which you’re becoming more like Jesus Christ each year. Are things discernibly different this year than they were last year? Are you noticeably more patient, more forgiving, or more compassionate? Do you have more inner peace? Is the quality or quantity of your prayer life better than it used to be? There are dozens of possible indicators here, so pick a few that you think are most relevant. Are they moving in the right direction?

Whatever these indicators say, understand that they’re a result of the “process” you’re following for spiritual development. Remember, this process is “designed perfectly to produce your outcome.”

Let me suggest an exercise I hope will help. First, think through your current approach to spiritual development and describe it to someone close to you, along with the outcomes that process is producing (or just write down these things if you’re doing this exercise on your own). Then, discuss (or think through on your own) how the process could be improved to produce a better outcome—for example greater love for God and neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39) or more consistent evidence of the “fruit of the Spirit” virtues in your daily life (Galatians 5:22-23).

This is a surprisingly powerful exercise, but whether we take it seriously is entirely up to us. We can blow it off and just keep slicing our spiritual tee shots into the familiar forest. Another day, another double bogie.

But if you’re finally ready for a better outcome—to become a more authentic, more consistent follower of Jesus Christ—take the time right now to figure out a better way to get there.

Michael Zigarelli is an Associate Professor at Messiah College and the editor of Christianity9to5.org.

For further reading on the topic of spiritual growth, consider:

A Serious Call to the Devout and Holy Life by William Law

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard

The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard

Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

Simplify Your Spiritual Life by Donald Whitney

Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Cultivating Christian Character by Michael Zigarelli