Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Do you feel like you're in a rut? You know, same job, same people, same ministry, day in, day out, same old stuff. The nagging feeling that things are never going to change or get better. And so you really just quit trying?
You stagnate. Would you like to learn how to overcome those feelings of stagnation? Would you like to rekindle the flame of motivation in your life and relationships? It can happen. Stay with me.
Let's talk about it. Life is dynamic. You're either growing or you're dying. There's no middle ground. Yet many Christians feel stuck in a spiritual rut, going through the motions without real progress.
I'm Dave Druy, and today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram reveals seven powerful principles that will propel you beyond personal stagnation. In our series, Experience Breakthrough, we're discovering how to stop feeling confined by life's biggest barriers. Today's barrier, stagnation, that frustrating sense that you're not moving forward spiritually. But here's the good news: God has a plan to get you unstuck.
Well, here's Chip Ingram with his message on how to overcome personal stagnation. Does your life honestly feel more like an adventure or does your life feel more like a rut? See, life is dynamic. Life is dynamic. It is not static.
You are either growing or dying. It's true physically, it's true intellectually, it's true relationally, it's true spiritually. All living things are either growing and increasing toward maturity. or they are deteriorating toward decay. and death.
There is no middle ground. The myth in life is that we think there is. When we think the status quo is where we are, We are just sliding backwards without knowing it. See, growth is exciting. Do you remember when your kids, those of us that are married, have a lot of, do you remember when your kids start growing and like, Dad, will you measure me?
Will you measure me? Right? They don't come and say, oh gosh, Dad, I grew another three inches. When you grow intellectually, and for some of us, when you get on that computer and you actually punch the writing buttons and something comes up, what happens? Wow, this is neat.
When you're involved in a relationship and you sense it growing and intimacy coming and you work through issues, what happens? You're excited. When you begin to come into a relationship with Christ like 20 to 25 people did last weekend alone. And when they learn who he is and what's going on, they get excited. We need to remember though that growth only comes from God.
We can get in the right environment and we can apply ourselves, but growth, especially spiritual growth, it's supernatural. You can't make it happen. You can just position yourself where God can do it. It's not automatic. My experience is it is very difficult.
It doesn't just happen. There are no magic pills. And the other thing I've realized is that growth can be stymied. Thwarted. stagnated and retarded.
You know, you can take a plant out of the sunshine and put it in a closet. What happens? You can take an arm that is growing well and have it injured and put it in a cast. What happens? Atrophy.
Some common reasons that I found that growth is stymied is sometimes we just don't get motivated. Other times, there's that initial inertia, we can't get through it. For others, there's no sense of progress. We get discouraged.
Sometimes there's just no inspiration. It just seems like. Yeah. For others, we get stuck and we need guidance. For others, there's a time of change and we don't know how to get through that period of change.
I don't know what it is, but this is what I know. I know that everyone in this room finds theirself at some point in time in some area morally. Spiritually, relationally, intellectually, or emotionally, where you get stuck. where you get stagnated. And when you do...
And when I do, then that area of your life begins to shrink, but God wants you to grow.
So here's my question. How are you growing today? How are you growing? How are you growing in your relationship with God? How are you growing in your relationship with people?
How are you growing in your family life? And here's the question. Would you like to learn how to break through those barriers of personal stagnation. Especially in your relationship with God and people. I'm going to give you seven principles.
From scripture, there may be 20, there may be 100. But as I've examined scripture and lived life and watched people who grow. It's obvious that people who grow have at least these seven things in common. People who grow, number one, live daily with the end in view. People who are really growing are motivated.
In fact, this principle is the key to motivation. One of the great problems with believers is that some believers think that their goal in life is to get to heaven. People, that's not your goal in life. That's your destination. Your goal in life is to become like Christ.
Romans 8:28 says that God takes every situation, every relationship, every hardship, every single thing that comes into your life, and He works it together for good, to those who are called, to those that He loves. Why? Verse 29. Not nearly as often quoted. Because he is preordained to conform you, to conform me to the image of his son.
God's game plan is to make you like Jesus. That's the goal. In fact, notice Jesus' words on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:48. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. You might circle that word perfect.
Other translations, it says mature. It means fully grown. It means ripe. The Greek word is teleos. And I only tell you that because you get the idea of a telescope, or those in philosophy who are familiar with the teleological argument, it's the idea of something arriving and coming to its full development.
God is saying, Jesus is saying, be ye perfect. Come. Come and become all that God designed you to become. The Apostle Paul will say that's in fact why the church is designed. Ephesians 4:13, he's going to say that these relationships in the body are all designed in order to help you and to help me become full-grown or mature.
Look at it with me. It says, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. and become, here's our word again, same word, mature, circle that. attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ. It's God's goal.
And when you lived with the end in view, that's who you want to become. The question in life when you get up every morning is not, what am I going to do today? The question in life every day when you get up is: who am I going to become more like today? When you put that out there, that target on the wall, when you live with that end in view, you know what will happen? You'll be motivated.
I'm extremely motivated because do you ever reach it? No, the Apostle Paul says what? I attain, I strive, not that I'm already there. You'll spend the rest of your life until Jesus comes back or you go meet him. Going after the prize of becoming more like Christ.
Second characteristic of people who grow is they make a personal commitment to grow. This is the key to overcoming inertia. A lot of us don't grow because we feel stuck. Newton was right, I think, both spiritually and in the laws of physics. A body at rest tends to stay at rest until there's an action upon it.
And often what we need in growth is not some big thing. We just need to get moving. But how do you break that inertia? I believe the scripture teaches, and that as I observe people, they make a personal commitment to grow. Notice that Jesus called for that in Luke 9, 23.
He didn't just teach. He called for specific commitment to grow, to follow him. Verse 23 of Luke 9: Then he, Jesus, said to them all, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. Do you hear that? That means you sign up.
I want to grow. Jesus, I want to follow you. Take up your cross means you die to your agenda, your goals. What you think is best, and you say, I'm signing up, and I want to be on Your game plan. Notice the reason being, it's because he loves you, not because he wants to keep something good from you.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for me We'll save it. Notice his rationale. What good is it for man to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very self? See, what God knows is this.
Is that you're being bombarded day in and day out in a fallen world, and we all grow up with this baggage and these agendas. And we think if we could make a list of these 25 things that would work out in my life, then we'd be happy. Seeking our life. I want to be this, I want to be that, I want to be this, I want to be that. I've got to have that.
If I only have this. And what he's saying is you need to lose that, let go. Because if God in the next 50 years gave you everything on your list, you would end up with everything you ever dreamed of and be absolutely an empty shell. and realize your ladder's against the wrong wall. But he says by contrast the paradox of life is if you choose to sign up for what's on his list, and there may be Ones that are very similar?
You sign up for what's on his list and you let go, you will find your life. You'll become all and beyond what you ever dreamed of becoming. Because what would it gain? For you or for me to have the whole world and yet Forfeit not just your soul spiritually, but notice this translation. It's a good one.
It's yourself. You're listening to Living on the Edge. More from Chip Ingram in just a moment. But first, if today's teaching is resonating with you, don't keep it to yourself. You can easily share this message with friends and family by visiting livingonthege.org.
There you'll find not only today's program, but an entire collection of biblical resources designed to help you experience breakthrough in every area of life. It's all available at livingonthege.org.
Well, let's continue with Chip's message. Notice it's a specific point in time the Apostle Paul will write in 1 Timothy 4, 7, and 8, have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales. Yeah. Rather, train yourself to be godly. There's a decision involved.
Train yourself. Follow me. For physical training is of some value. But godliness has value for all things, holding promise both for the present life and the life to come. Let me ask you now.
Has there ever been a point in time For all of you, since you've become a Christian, where you have driven a stake in the ground and said, I'm gonna grow. I mean, come hell or high water. Come good relationships, bad relationships. Come good circumstances, bad circumstances. I am going to follow Christ.
It's kind of like what Joshua said: as for me and my house, the whole world can go a different direction. All my friends can go a different direction. But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Have you ever done that?
Now I know what you're thinking. It's what I've said it for years. I'm not ready for that. I'm not ready for that. You know what the misbelief is?
The misbelief is that we grow toward commitment. That's not true. The way you grow. is you build on commitment.
Now, some of you, many in this room, are married, so you said I do before a group of people, right? And you said, I'm going to stick with this person, come thick or thin.
Now, do you know what the thick and thin is when you signed up for it? Heck no, you didn't know. In fact, some of you wish you would've known. But the fact of the matter is, you build on that commitment. You don't build toward it.
You don't live together for 49 years and say, You know, honey? I think this is going to work. You build on commitment. How many of us, when you had your first child, felt like, we're ready for this, we got this wired? You know, it's like, and then the second one comes, you know what you do, though?
You don't have what you need, but you're committed as a parent to making it. Let me ask you, have you ever done that? See, that's how you break through that initial inertia. You make the commitment and say, I'm gonna go for broke. I'm gonna follow Christ.
And you think, well, what about, what about, what about? He'll show you what to do. But that's, there's people that have spent their whole Christian life waiting for when they're more mature, when they're really ready. You'll wait till Jesus comes and you'll miss life. Third.
People who grow not only live daily with the end in view, and so it's the key to motivation. Not only do they make a personal commitment, which is the key to overcoming inertia, third, they value process more than event. And that's the key to progress. See, what happens is we think growth happens in these huge spurts. We think that there's a magic pill, there's a seminar, there's a book, there's a secret teaching.
There's a second experience. There's something somewhere somehow. There's an area of the country, and if you go visit that area of the country, you get holy and you get powerful, and everything's gonna change. You dream. That's not the way life works.
So, if people who really grow understand it's the everyday nickel and dime, tiny little decisions you make. It's the process that produces real growth. Notice the writing to the Hebrews, written to a group of people that had stopped growing. They started to grow. They were Jewish Christians.
And then the heat turned up, and there was persecution. And they were moving back into legalism, into the law. And the book of Hebrews is written to this group to say, hey, Christ is superior to the law. Christ is superior to the priesthood. Christ is superior to angels.
Christ is superior to Moses. He's saying, hey, get with the program. It's grace, baby. There's a new covenant. And he writes to this group of people, verse 11, and it's sort of a reproach.
Little rebuke. He says in chapter 5 of verse 11: We have much to say about this, talking about spiritual growth, but it's hard to explain because you are slow to learn. They're not growing. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word all over again. He goes on to say, you need milk like babies.
Not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
Now get the next verse. Notice how growth occurs and look for the concept of the process. But solid food is for the mature. Circle it, that's our word again. Teleos.
Solid food, spiritual food is for the mature.
Now, get this, who by constant use. have trained themselves. Does it sound sound like a process? to distinguish good from evil. Who, by constant use, not a big event.
A little here, a little there. Constant use. trained themselves. The secret to your future is hidden. in your daily routines.
Luke 16.10. It says, he that is faithful in a very little thing will be faithful also in much. He who is unrighteous in a very little thing. Isn't righteous all so much? You know, people tell me, oh, I really want to walk with God.
God doesn't care about how I drive. God doesn't care about whether I talk this way or do that. God doesn't care about those little decisions. God doesn't care about this or that. I got news, God cares about that.
Because if you're not faithful in little things, if I'm not faithful in little things, Why would he entrust you with more? God wants you to know It's the very little things, the tiny attitudes with people. the tiny disciplines with him. The little things are decision here, integrity here, relationship here. And you build on them.
One Russian philosopher said, a man spends the first half of his life building habits. and the second half of his life will be determined by the habits he or she builds the first half. I'll tell you, the most profound, beyond words, impact in my life in terms of whatever usefulness God has for my life now and in the future. was not a big event. It was not the schools that I've been to.
It is not any great spiritual awakening. You know, the greatest impact. When I look back, if someone said, what's the one thing? That has shaped your life, Chip, more than anything else, other than people. I would say it was a bricklayer with a high school education shortly after I became a Christian who came to my dorm room and taught me how to have a daily quiet time.
And I couldn't get up for the first year or so. And in the next year, I spent five to seven, maybe ten minutes with God every morning before I went off to school. But the discipline of on a daily basis, not a big deal, not mastering the Bible, not memorizing at all, but on a daily basis reading systematically through the Bible. Meeting with God before I meet with people. You know, you are what you eat and it's true physically.
It's true psychologically and it's true spiritually. I miss a day, of course, here and there. But it's kind of an you know, I I miss a meal now and then too, but not many. And so it's just become a part of my life. You know what I've learned?
Is over the years, I just get up and I read the word and I ask God, sometimes it's emotional, sometimes I don't feel much, but I say, God, I want you to speak to me. And I want to learn who you are. I want to draw close to you. And I know that you're more important than the whole world. And the only way I can demonstrate that is to stop and be with you first.
And then I pray through my day. And then I sit quietly and I ask him to search my heart and sometimes jot down some things he makes aware of. I would feel overwhelmed, but you know what I know? I'm going to get up tomorrow and I'm going to meet with God and He's going to show me what to do next. I don't have a clue.
There's situations as a parent, you know, we've had financial struggles, we've had marital struggles, we've had, I've shared most of them. But you know what the constant has been, the rudder of my life? God shows up every morning. When I do. And you know, inch by inch, over the years, Little by little.
That has been the primary shaper. of my heart, my life, my values, and my relationships. Doesn't happen overnight. Seven keys to personal growth. The first, live daily with the end in view, it's the key to motivation.
Second, make a personal commitment. It's the key to overcoming inertia. Third, value process more than event, it's the key to progress. See, you get discouraged thinking you're not making progress. You're making progress.
Real growth is slow. Fourth. Cultivate stimulating relationships. It's the key to inspiration. Growing people.
Arrange their lives and their schedules. Are you ready? To be around growing people. To be inspired, to be challenged, to be stretched. Every time I rub up against people that are walking with God and are, you know, they're ahead of me here and they're making progress there.
Every time I get near them, I just, I want to lean forward into it. And there's times where there's people that have huge needs, and I feel inadequate. I don't know, but when I get involved in their life and I get stimulated, and I realize God can use a regular guy like me, He can use a regular person like you. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we're in our series called Experience Breakthrough. Today, Chip shared the first four principles of spiritual growth, live with the end in view, make a personal commitment, embrace the process, and cultivate stimulating relationships.
Chip has more to say in just a moment, so stay with us. You know, that third principle is so important. Growth happens through constant use, not through big events. It's the daily discipline of meeting with God that shapes us over time. And if you're ready to build that kind of daily rhythm into your life, I want to point you toward a resource that can help.
It's a chips-free 10-day devotional called Psalms of Hope.
Now, if this isn't about adding another task to your already busy schedule, it's about learning how to connect with God in a way that actually sticks. Chip will guide you through Psalm 1, Psalm 15, and Psalm 23, showing you not just what these passages mean, but how to study Scripture for yourself. The format is simple. 10 minutes of teaching from CHIP, then 10 minutes of personal reflection and prayer. 20 minutes a day for 10 days.
That's all it takes to start building the kind of consistent spiritual habit that produces real growth. Get started in the Psalms of Hope devotional study today by going online to livingontheedge.org. Just search for Psalms of Hope. Every resource we create depends on the faithful support of listeners like you. When you give to Living on the Edge, you're investing in biblical teaching that helps people grow spiritually.
Not just in theory, but in real practical ways. Would you consider giving today? To give, visit livingontheedge.org or mail your gift to livingonthege P.O. Box 3007 Atlanta, Georgia 30024. You can also call 888-333-6003.
Well, now, once again, here's Chip. You know, if I ask you over a cup of coffee today, would you like to stay stagnant? I mean, you don't want to grow, don't want your marriage to grow. Don't want your relationship to Christ to grow, don't want any of your kids to grow. You've sort of arrived at a place in your work and you think, you know, I'd like to be here the rest of my life.
What would you say?
Well, you'd laugh at me, wouldn't you? And you'd say, of course I want to grow.
Well, let's talk very candidly about what growth is going to look like in your life. It has to begin with getting the end in view. If you live week to week, day to day, you will get in a rut. It's human nature. You must get the end in view.
The key to motivation is getting that target, who you want to become, who you long to be. It starts with the end in view. And then second, you know what? It doesn't happen automatically. It demands a personal commitment.
Now, I'm not trying to get you to rev up your emotions and say, okay, I'm going to try really hard, really, really hard, and then two, three, or four days from now or a week from now, you're right back where you were. Let me share a concept that I alluded to. Growing isn't so much about what you're going to do today Growing is thinking differently. It's who am I going to become today? I recently did something with our staff, and what I told them was too many people live with a to-do list.
And I challenged our staff, don't start with a to-do list, start with a to-grow list. And what I told them, I've actually done this over the years, is I start every week with a to grow list. Where do I want to grow? And I think, okay, if I'm going to grow in my relationship with God, then I plug that in.
Okay, these mornings I'm going to study the Bible and I'm going to pray. Afternoon, I'm going to spend that time with my wife. I want to grow in my marriage. I'm going to grow intellectually. And so I've got a list of books that I'm going to read.
Now, none of these things are going to accomplish any of this week's objectives. What it accomplishes is making me more and more the man I believe God wants me to be.
Now I plug all that in first and here's the deal. I've got to get my to-do list done, and so do you. But when I plug in the to grow list, and then build my to do's around that? You know what happens next month? I'm a little bit different person next year.
I'm even a more different person. I want to challenge you, what would it look like to make a to grow list? What one area do you know God wants you to grow? God, show me where and how you want me to grow. Come up with a plan, not to accomplish, but to grow.
and you're going to see some exciting things happen. Ready to become a progressive risk taker for God? I'm Dave Druy, inviting you to discover what that means next time on Living on the Edge. Uh Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh
