In
William Zinsser’s book On Writing Well, he says that many writers suffer
from “the tyranny of the final product.” They are so concerned with selling
their article or book, they neglect learning the process of how to think, plan,
and organize. A jumbled manuscript, Zinsser believes, is produced when “the
writer, his eye on the finish line, never gave enough thought to how to run the
race.”
Author
and minister A. W. Tozer applies that principle to our spiritual lives. In
his book The Root of the Righteous, Tozer describes our tendency to be
“concerned only with the fruit . . . [and] ignore the root out of which the
fruit sprang.”
The
apostle Peter reminded first-century believers that Christlike living and
effective service result from a process. He urged them to grow in eight areas
of spiritual development: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance,
godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (2 Peter 1:5-7). If you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, Peter said, “you will be neither barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.8).
God calls us to a wonderful process of learning to know Him, with the assurance that it will lead to productive service in His name and for His honor.
