Hebrews 6:7 Land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
A man once told me that he had been trying (and failing) too hard to grow spiritually. He realized that he could not do it on his own, so he was going to switch gears, sit back, and let God do the work. His recurrent failures stood as evidence that he had been going about spiritual growth the wrong way. He was going to stop trying. Let go and let God.
That did not seem quite right, but I did not challenge him as he spoke with authority and sounded pretty smart. The writer of Hebrews though, would beg to differ about my part in the process of growth. In this agricultural analogy, he said that God pours the rain on the land, but the land is responsible to drink deeply of it. In drinking, the land produces a useful crop. If on the other hand, the land refuses to drink the rain, it bears thorns and thistles (vs. 8).
The problem is, I want instant results. I eat healthy for three days and expect to be skinny. Growth is rarely that immediate though. Spiritual growth is a lifelong process and I must daily drink deeply of God to see growth. In my addict’s mind, if I do not see instant results, I want to give up.
I must continually do my part to consume God though. I am not responsible for God’s part, only mine. What does that look like? I can only tell you my experience. I must daily, get up early, spending time reading, praying and journaling. I must continually choose to drink of God. The fact that I still struggle and still have defects is not reason to quit. That means I just still have a lot of room to grow.
If I prefer to produce a useful crop, I do not get there by doing nothing. I get there by drinking the rain daily.