In this excellent article by Trevin Wax from thegospelcoalition.org we are reminded that our spiritual growth is a lifelong process.
You Can’t Life-Hack Your Way to Holiness - Trevin Wax
“Read your Bible, pray every day, and you’ll grow, grow, grow.” This song was omnipresent in my earliest years of church life, chosen by Sunday-school teachers because of its simple message (and its corresponding motions for fidgety kids). The song presents a general truth: spiritual growth is linked to spiritual sustenance. We receive nourishment from the Scriptures and abide in Christ through prayer. Naturally then, Bible reading and prayer are crucial for spiritual growth.
But these practices don’t guarantee results. No foolproof formula exists. Many believers striving to overcome persistent sins often feel their Bible reading or prayer doesn’t bring victory. They seek spiritual nourishment but still feel stuck in their struggles. Likewise, history shows that daily Bible readers and those committed to prayer can sometimes become self-righteous, more like the Pharisee than the tax collector in Jesus’s parable. Reading the Bible won’t necessarily make you holier; it could make you holier-than-thou.
Search for the Perfect Technique
When the Christian life doesn’t follow the simple, formulaic approach we learned as children, we often seek new methods. We hunt for the perfect technique or tool to maximize our Bible reading or make us more consistent in prayer. What practices will transform my life? What rhythms, formulas, or liturgies might help me gain the most from spiritual disciplines?
We live in an era flooded with life hacks—new exercise regimens, cooking recipes, productivity shortcuts, and self-optimization strategies. The message is clear: Find the right technique and everything will change. We’re bombarded with marketing, which influences how we think, even in spiritual matters. This hyperfocus on techniques and disciplines often drives our conversations about spiritual formation. We’re drawn to it because of our consumer society and our hearts’ inclination toward self-justification. The desire for self-optimization warps into the belief we’re responsible for our spiritual growth.
Slow Road to Holiness
"The result for spiritual formation? Almost all our attention goes to the habits of formation, and little to none to the Spirit’s part in spiritual growth. This misplaced emphasis has consequences. When we trust in techniques, we sideline the Spirit. Our focus shifts from God’s grace in sanctification to external outcomes. We grow frustrated with the slow pace of our spiritual journey, expecting faster progress toward holiness.
But life hacks don’t remove our sins. Habits aren’t a shortcut to holiness. Techniques can turn into steroid shots for muscles: impressive in their initial results while doing long-term damage.
Abiding in Christ over Technique
To be clear, different methods and techniques for Bible reading, prayer, and fasting can be helpful. I’ve personally encouraged a “daily office” of prayer through significant portions of Scripture. I hope these tools are beneficial and that, as the song says, if you use them daily, you’ll “grow, grow, grow.”
But spiritual growth isn’t a checklist. In our world of tracking heart rates, steps, calorie intake, and exercise routines, it’s easy to add Bible reading to the list of tasks we accomplish each day. But keeping a daily Bible reading streak on our app doesn’t mean we’re becoming more like Christ. We may start to wonder why we still struggle with certain sins or why these practices don’t seem to deliver the promised transformation. Over time, we might abandon these practices, believing they don’t work.
The truth is, spiritual growth takes time. Life is full of constraints, and many of the distractions and frustrations and even the people we may think are getting in the way of our disciplined routines are themselves the slow but necessary pathway to holiness.
When I speak with older believers who radiate the joy of Jesus, they often talk about their lingering sins and how their progress is far from where they’d like it to be. They remind me of Paul, who called himself the chief of sinners, but one who was running toward the prize.
The center of spiritual formation isn’t about what you do or the practices you adopt—it’s about the Spirit forming you into Christ’s image. The spiritual life is more about learning to abide in Christ than about following a pattern or liturgy, however helpful your practices may be. The point isn’t just to do your duty but to trust the Spirit to transpose your desires and transform you into a different kind of person over time.
Mystery of Spiritual Growth
Spiritual growth requires attention. And attention is our most precious resource. Prayer is hard, often boring, and sometimes excruciating. Sitting in silence before God while our thoughts flit about can be a painfully revealing process of where our hearts are drawn. Kyle Strobel warns that we might turn to tools and techniques as a way to avoid a genuine encounter with God. Blaise Pascal noted that humanity’s problems stem from our inability to sit quietly alone in a room. If that was true in his day, how much more so in our age of endless distractions?
Life hacks prioritize speed and efficiency, and they promise quick results. Yet those who walk with grace over decades often seem unhurried. They don’t obsess over tools or methods. They embrace each moment as a gift, focus on the person before them, and don’t view prayer as a productivity tool but as a way to commune with God. Setbacks and distractions aren’t obstacles to spiritual growth but part of the process of renewal.
I’m grateful for the tools and techniques that aid in spiritual growth. But I’m even more thankful we cannot life-hack our way to holiness. The Spirit is essential, not peripheral. His work is mysterious, not manageable. Miraculous, not marketable. And for sinners in need of his sanctifying work, that’s really good news.
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