The Key To Consistency

God Centred Productivity Built on Love.

Introduction

This was meant to be a happy new year post but the irony is that my consistency pertaining to weekly writing had to take a back seat. So welcome back, and to those of you who are new here, welcome to the Roadmap Newsletter. For the past 6 months I have taken you on a journey to discover what it truly means to live a purpose driven life. The point of these letters is not to reveal that I have all of the answers that pertain to this; but rather to unravel the character of the God who does. Success is universally sought after, especially in this day and age, yet the fallibility of human nature has the majority of people chasing this while never truly being satisfied. The biggest lesson and game changer was when my faith in a living God became more real to me than my thirst and ambition for futile success. Destruction and disappointment comes about when you look to yourself and your nature to satisfy the soul. Deception comes about when you are told that the solution to satisfactory improvement lies within yourself. My quest for success changed the moment I realised that selfish ambition is simply a perversion of the desires that God designed us with to seek him and his kingdom.

For example, chasing women to satisfy the lusts of the flesh produced several unsuccessful relationships in my life. Chasing money to validate an identity rooted in riches simply resulted in a pattern of poor financial decisions leaving me worse off than initially stated. Chasing God was also an unsatisfactory pursuit when I was motivated by the fear of condemnation and driven by the underlying glory of self. The common denominator in these pursuits remains the same: self. This leads you to a point of contemplation where you begin to question the possibility of growth without the toxic motivator of self. As you have embarked on a new journey I am sure you have your goals and ambitions set out before you. You might also be wondering how to stay consistent on this pursuit. Through this letter I will be breaking down the answer which might surprise you. The solution to staying consistent doesn’t lie in your discipline, in your skill set, or in your fervent desire to overcome obstacles. The solution to consistency lies in love: but you must first understand what this means.

The Journey From Self To Sacrifice

Love happens to be the nature and essence of the God we worship. It isn’t self seeking and if it was then it wouldn’t be love. Love is sacrificial which can be defined as the act of self-denial. Why is this important? This is important because it is not in our nature as human beings to be sacrificial, we are naturally self seeking and this is what we are motivated by. The selfishness of man causes division, harm, adversity and death but the sacrifice of God causes justification, restoration, and life. Believing this will change your paradigm and give you a new reason to live that exists outside of your will and your way. Unfortunately the popular worldview of today’s culture will try to convince you that you have all the solutions and your way leads to life. But not even Jesus sought his way:

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6: 38-40

Understanding the nature of God through Christ paints the picture of a journey divinely designed to restore humanity to life. He came into humanity to reveal the love that existed outside of it. God’s will is to give life to the world he loves and in this there is a hope that supersedes the futility of the things of this world. If you are living for something that has an expiration date then you are living for nothing at all. The love of God made known through sacrifice has an eternal consequence giving you an eternal why. This is far more powerful than success driven by selfish ambition that would lead you to the end of your life with the unanswered question of “why”. Sacrifice is the knowledge and the acceptance of the greater good.

Your Why Is The Root of Endurance

Knowing your why through love can never be understood or even expressed until it has been received (I John 4:19). I believe that the acknowledgement of this gift is the strongest “why” one can have. A widely acclaimed idea is that endurance is the foundation behind consistency. However when you peel back the layers it becomes more evident that there is a driving force behind your endurance. Whether it is in fitness, business, family or your spiritual growth; there will be things for you to conquer, overcome and endure. What people often miss is that the enduring spirit is not rooted in self but is rooted in the the love that is there for you to receive. The love of God doesn’t just bear some things, it bears all things!

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I Corinthians 13:7

Think about this in a more practical setting. Have you ever tried to achieve something that was driven out of anger and bitterness? I certainly have. It could be the loss of a job that gets you fired up to be the rich entrepreneur that no one has authority over. It could be the loss of a relationship that has you in the gym motivated to build a physique that will cast out the fear or rejection. When consistency is built on why’s such as these, one may be able to endure and stay consistent; but only temporarily. It is like the dopamine rush of personal development that never lasts no matter how much progress you think you have made. Progress built on the wrong foundation is not progress at all.

God Centred Productivity

If God is Love, then Love is what should be at the center of your productivity. Not love like the world knows it, but the love that is the essence of God’s spirit. This is the fuel that genuinely lasts forever. My word of encouragement for you today is to look to this fuel for reliance. Know that your productivity will not be in vain if it is fuelled by the love of God. If you are struggling to find it, look to the cross. The world can give you several why’s but God has simply given you one.