Stay Connected
Spiritual growth is not produced by strain. Stay connected to Christ, receive His life, and let growth come from the inside out.
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
John 15:5You never once lay in bed as a kid straining to get taller. There was no workout for it, no life hack, no amount of trying. You grew in your sleep. Quietly, automatically, by eating, resting, and staying connected to everything that fed you.
Imagine how absurd it would be to grunt and flex, willing yourself another inch. Growth was never something you achieved. It was something that happened to you while you simply stayed alive.
Spiritual growth works the exact same way. You don't grind your way up. You stay plugged in to Jesus, and the growing takes care of itself.
Plants don't grow by straining
Look at a plant. "The plants and flowers grow not by their own care or anxiety or effort, but by receiving that which God has furnished to minister to their life." A flower doesn't grit its teeth and force itself taller. It just stays connected to soil, water, and sun, and growth happens. You're wired the same way. "No more can you, by anxiety or effort of yourself, secure spiritual growth."
"Abide" just means stay
Jesus put it plainly: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." A branch snapped off the vine doesn't fail because it isn't trying. It fails because it's disconnected. Growth is the by-product of staying attached, not the reward for effort.
It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His likeness.
Steps to Christ, chapter 8
Make it a daily thing
So how do you stay connected? One small, powerful habit: "Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work." Before the day grabs you, hand it over: "Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. Use me today in Thy service." "This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day." Not one dramatic decision, a thousand small ones.
We should not make self the center and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shall be saved. All this turns the soul away from the Source of our strength.
Steps to Christ, chapter 8
Look at Him, not at yourself
Here's a trap the book exposes: obsessing over your own faults. It feels humble, but it actually pulls you away from Jesus. "When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life." The enemy is happy to keep you endlessly self-monitoring. The cure isn't to stare harder at yourself; it's to look at Jesus. "Talk and think of Jesus. Let self be lost in Him." You become what you behold.
Think of a phone charging on the nightstand. It doesn't strain to fill its battery; it just has to stay on the pad. The instant it slips off, all the willpower in the world won't add a single percent. "Abide in Me". Growth is a by-product of staying connected, not a reward for trying hard.
A plant on a windowsill. It doesn't manufacture sunlight; it just keeps quietly turning toward the window, and the sun does the rest. Your job isn't to generate the life. It's to keep facing the source.
Faith isn't a grind
We've been trained to think everything worthwhile comes from hustle: grind harder, optimize, push through. Apply that to faith and you get burnout, a exhausting cycle of resolving to do better, failing, feeling guilty, resolving again. Sound familiar?
Chapter 8 offers a completely different picture. Growth isn't a grind; it's a connection. Two practical moves: first, start each day with a ten-second handoff, "I'm Yours today, use me." Second, break the self-monitoring spiral. When you catch yourself endlessly analyzing your own failures, gently turn your attention back to Jesus instead. You don't grow by staring at the branch. You grow by staying on the vine.
Three questions
- Have you been treating spiritual growth like a hustle, and burning out?
- What would a simple morning "handoff" to God look like for you this week?
- Where do you get stuck endlessly analyzing your own faults instead of looking at Jesus?
Take me, Lord, as wholly Yours. I lay today's plans at Your feet. Use me in Your service. I'm done trying to grow by straining. Keep me connected to You like a branch to the vine, and turn my eyes away from myself and onto Jesus. Amen.
Next: Love Goes to Work
Keep moving through the journey in order. Step 9 builds on what you have just read.
Continue to Step 9