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The Process is the Point

           I like working on old cars and motorcycles.  When a friend of mine heard this he asked, “Are you stupid?  By the time you get those things back on the road, you will have more time and money in them than you will ever get back.  If you want an old motorcycle, just go buy one!  They are cheap!”
            “I realize that I won’t make a lot of money”, I said, “but that is not why I am doing it.  I am doing it for the satisfaction of saying, ‘I did this’”.
            Sometimes, the process is the point.
            At the start of his ministry, Jesus goes out into the desert and is met by Satan who offers him several short-cuts to success, but Jesus refuses (Matthew 4).  I always thought that Jesus refused simply because the offer came from Satan, but maybe Jesus refused because he knew that the process of obtaining those things was as important as the end result.
            In John 15 Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
            Outcomes are important.  However, outcomes are the result of the steps that lead to them.  We cannot short-cut our spiritual development.  We “bear fruit” only if we stay connected to God.  We only grow as Christians as we go through the process of living our lives in his presence.
            I do not know what you are facing right now and I do not know what you are struggling with, but I do know this:  If you walk through it with God, you will come out on the other end with blessings that you did not see ahead of time.
            The process is the point.         

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