On The Topic of Personal Development


Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the topic of personal development.

I think the desire for self-improvement is a good thing and we should always strive to be the best we can in life.

How can we improve ourselves?

One of the essential ingredients is work ethic. Without dedication and commitment to your goals, it will never be met. It is important to plan out a direction in what you want to improve and how you want to achieve it. And then commit yourselves to it until you reach your goal.

It will be hard, and failures will most likely occur. But remember to get back up and keep going. Getting up is one of the hardest parts of achieving a goal. But it is also the most vital part, find the strength and keep moving forward.

Now, there is one aspect of personal improvement that is integral to everything I've discussed so far. And that aspect is God. We can continuously strive for personal improvement but without God, our desires will never be fulfilled.

God is the person that makes everything happen. He is the provider and sustainer to all our goals. As Paul mention in Corinthians

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth... so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6–7). 

Without Him, we are powerless to achieve our goals.

I want to encourage everyone that God is constantly growing us (Philippians 1:6). And even though sometimes how we want to grow doesn’t look like the way we planned. God is actually in background guiding us towards it even though it is another pathway.

Let's go deeper

There are dangers in our quest for personal development. Our desire to improve can actually be attached to deeper issues in our lives.

Personally, I've tried to use personal development as a way to mask my insecurity in life. If I can be a better version of myself, then I can feel secure right?

Well, what I've learned is that it doesn’t work like that. Trip Lee, who said 

“Insecurity only exists when we try to find security in self. Finding hope in a God who never disappoints can only make you feel MORE secure.”

As I said before God is the provider. We shouldn't look to find security in ourselves. That will only lead to more disappointment. Look towards the person that will never disappoint.

Continue to improve yourself but do it with the right intention and direction and most importantly do it with God. 

Link to Tripp Lee, How to Be Insecure for the Rest of your life - https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-to-be-insecure-for-the-rest-of-your-life
Location: Sydney NSW, Australia

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