A Biblical Approach to Personal Growth

Today the personal growth industry is worth over 44 billion dollars, and this number is projected to double in the next 10 years. With the advent of social media and Internet marketing, and the increasing shift toward remote work since 2020, the number of people giving advice on anything from life to relationships to business is rising exponentially.

Everyone is a guru these days, and I know because I used to be one of them.

For the greater part of my career over the last 20 years I believed in “personal growth” and thought it was a good thing. Not just a good thing, in fact, but a necessary thing. I spent thousands on seminars and personal growth experiences, coaching, books, programs and retreats. I also led my own retreats, wrote my own books, did my own coaching programs and created my own experiences. I published hundreds of hours of online content, including high level online courses, and I interviewed over 150 of the top people in the fields of mindset, business, relationships and success over a period of about 3 years on my podcast.

Yet today after coming to the truth of the gospel, the truth that was hidden from my eyes because I was blinded by the world and my pursuit of personal growth, I realize one simple thing: you do not need personal growth. What you, and I, and everyone needs is a relationship with Jesus.

Many will have a knee-jerk reaction to the statement that “you don’t need any personal growth” but I hope given my background you will entertain me enough to explain my position on this issue. Although there are some good things from a “personal growth” mindset, the world of personal growth and its fundamental philosophy is based on the very first thing the bible warns us against: the deception of becoming the god of your own life.

In the very first book of the bible, Genesis, most everyone knows the story of Adam, Eve and the serpent. The serpent tempted Eve with the idea that she could be like God without having to have a relationship with God. This is what led humanity to separate itself from God, and as a result inherit a cursed world and the curse of death. But God being rich in mercy used it all for the good to reveal His glory in the redemptive work of Jesus, who offers all who believe a pardon of their sins and eternal life in a renewed world.

Christ reversed the events that happened in the garden of Eden and made it possible for mankind to truly “be like God” in the way it was always intended: by having a relationship with Him. This fundamental difference in how one reaches the end goal is so important, so that’s why today I want to share with you several reasons why the gospel is so much better than any personal growth the world will ever teach you.

The first important thing to realize is that the fundamental idea behind personal growth is a lie. Personal growth tells you that all the answers are within and that you should follow your heart. Yet the bible has very different things to say about the human condition. It says that humanity is incapable of making good decisions without God. It says the heart is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), that we cannot trust our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5–6), that the god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of people (2 Corinthians 4:4), that even our good deeds are like filthy rags when they are not grounded in a relationship with God (Isaiah 64:6) and that nobody seeks after God naturally. (Romans 3:10)(1 Corinthians 2:14)

The bible tells you the truth, that you and I are incapable of saving ourselves or doing anything that leads to true life without God. We do not know what is truly good or evil no matter how wise we consider ourselves. We also are dependent on God for life every single moment, and to deny this fact is ultimately to commit yourself to destruction. The bible says that everyone will be resurrected at the end of the age when Christ returns, and on that day all that will ever matter is whether you had faith or not. Those who rejected the offer for pardon will face only justice — and in the eyes of a perfect judge who has a record of everything you’ve ever done this is very bad news.

This brings me to the next point, that personal growth is focused on worldly things which pass away rather than true things that are eternal. How you measure success is very important in life. I have met or read about many very wealthy people that were bored, depressed or very unhappy. This is because true wealth in life is having a sense of purpose, good relationships, good health and wisdom. All of these things come from a relationship with God, because God gives generously to all who approach Him, yet the personal growth industry teaches you that you can obtain these things without a relationship to God. Sound familiar?

While there is some truth in these things, there is also great danger because they are half-true. God did place man in the garden to work, so work will always be part of who we are because work is a good thing. God is a worker, and because we were made in His image this will never cease to be part of our identity. Yet we were also designed for a specific purpose — to be laborers of God, to find our greatest fulfillment in chasing Him and fulfilling our desires in Him.

Yet since the dawn of time man has exchanged the glory of God for transient worldly goals. Paul writes about this in the first chapter of Romans, and ultimately it is what we all have done to one degree or another when we chased money, relationships, our goals, success, or anything else more than we chased God.

So you see this is a great flaw with personal growth. In the world you are told to “leave a legacy” — but a legacy is meaningless if you will be resurrected only to be destroyed. God does not lie and His word is more sure than the rising of the sun. What this means is that eternity is real and so will our lives be in that new reality. A real legacy is doing the work of God by spreading the good news to others, letting God do the rest and, ultimately, seeing and rejoicing with these new brothers and sisters forever in paradise. I don’t know about you but that’s a legacy I can really get behind.

In Isaiah 52, God famously says, “Why do you labor for that which is not bread?” And it is so true. How many times I have had this verse pop into my mind as I’ve gotten caught up in useless pursuits and neglected surrendering to God. It will be a constant practice until that fateful day of the Lord, especially living in the world we are in today, nevertheless if God carried the burden of mankind’s sin on the cross it means He can easily carry your burdens today or tomorrow.

This is why the gospel is such good news. Through and through it has a unique message that no other spiritual path has ever offered, and that message is that God is doing the work to accomplish the outcome. By comparison, all the world can offer you is another rat race because it always puts the emphasis on you doing the work to accomplish the outcome. Personal growth is a rat race just like every religion in history is a rat race. The only difference is the packaging. What is unique to the gospel is that God is running the race with you and through you, and in a world that is never short on doubt and despair it is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel because you know that God will not fail at His work.

To be conformed to the image of Christ is the highest possible goal imaginable, because Christ is the perfect Creator of the universe. This is why I cited that verse from Isaiah. No goal or mission or vision in the world can possibly come even close to the goal that God has created through the gospel for those who believe. And the great irony? The gospel offers this goal to you for free, simply at the cost of your pride, yet many prefer to chase their pride instead at the cost of their life because they find the cross foolishness. I know, because I used to be one of them.

Another futile aspect of personal growth is the fuel that it runs on, which is motivation. Today you have entire YouTube or Instagram channels dedicated to motivational music, motivational speeches, motivational memes, motivational videos and a hundred other things. Anything to give you that extra boost of dopamine to push a little further in the hustle culture. But there is a great flaw with motivation: it’s temporary and it dies like everything else in the world.

By contrast the gospel does not need to keep motivating you. Instead it offers something so simple, yet eternally motivating: the promise of God.

The gospel tells us that everyone who places their faith in Christ will be resurrected at the end of the age and given an incorruptible body that does not age. We will live with God on Earth and experience creation as it was always meant to be free of evil, aging, disease, accidents, death, suffering or conflict. To most people it sounds like a fairytale, yet to those who genuinely surrender to Christ it is the hope that provides an everlasting fuel for dealing with life’s slings and arrows.

The truth is that life is extremely painful. Every spiritual pursuit has to solve the problem of evil. Motivation is great, but how do you get motivated when your loved ones die unexpectedly? Or when you have a crippling accident or lose all of your money? How do you move forward when everything you’ve ever wanted or worked for comes crumbling down because of situations beyond your control? And most important: how do you deal with the looming shadow of death which gets closer and closer every single day, never truly knowing if you will wake up the next day or not?

Personal growth and New Age practices do not have good answers to these difficult questions. I have yet to read or learn of any people who were martyred for personal growth or New Age beliefs, yet you can learn of millions of Christians throughout history who endured the most evil persecution imaginable because they had the peace of Christ which overcomes the world. This is also true for the gurus — because I doubt anyone prolific in both the personal growth or New Age would ever go through what Christ went through on behalf of their followers. That alone should tell you something.

Christianity on the other hand makes sense of the evil in the world. God works all things for the good for those who trust in Him (Romans 8:28–29) and when we have Christ we have the ability to overcome the world through Him just as He promised. This unshakeable hope is so much more than motivation, and when you truly get it you begin to see things very differently.

I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33)

The New Age personal growth solution to most of the problems of the world is to just be more present, yet there is great irony in this advice too. Being present in the moment is meaningless if you are going to die. Even worse, if you are going to die and then be resurrected and judged — how can you possibly be present? Most people aren’t aware of their fate if they reject Christ and this is exactly why the serpent has made these attitudes so popular today — fooling the world into a counterfeit eternity by focusing the mind constantly on a dying present moment while the train is headed for a cliff.

When a missionary came to my house many years ago preaching the gospel, I told her I was too busy to concern myself with an afterlife. “I’m living in the now” I said proudly. Today I cringe at these words, but God allowed my stupidity so that it could later serve as a warning to others. This is most people’s attitudes today. “Live your best life now.” Really? How can you live your best life in a cursed world where you are doomed to die? I want to live my best life forever, in a perfect world with the Creator who made it all. Don’t you?

The final point I want to make today is that the bible presents you with an objective truth, whereas the personal growth and New Age world is one that is fundamentally relativistic. Christ famously said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). Notice the language here: not “a” way but rather “the” Way. In fact this is why early Christianity was called “The Way.” It is not only “a” way of life but “The Way” — the way to become like God, to live forever, to escape the suffering of this world and the way to finally be free.

The world stumbles over this because it is exclusive, but when we let go of our pride we realize that God’s offer of pardon to people who deserve to be destroyed is the most inclusive thing that can be imagined.

For most of my entire life I chased freedom, but only until I saw the truth of the gospel did I realize that true freedom exists in Christ. My personal growth efforts created material freedoms, but these always came with a cost because this is the world we live in. You want the freedom of a great body? You’ll have to sacrifice constant work and discipline. You want the freedom of good income? You’ll have to sacrifice the freedom of peace and taking things slow. Everything in the world comes with a cost, but Christ is not of this world and that is why His gospel is free.

Nevertheless there is a cost that we do have to pay and that is in our pride. If you do not believe the first line of Genesis you will not understand God coming back down to Earth to live with His creation forever in the book of Revelation. The gospel is God-centric, meaning that it is all about Him and what He’s doing and His glory. In a world that is hyper-focused on individualism and personal autonomy we take offense to this message because we project our selfishness onto God. If I was all about me and my glory you would call me a narcissist, yet for God it is completely different.

In Hebrews 1:3 the bible says that Christ upholds the universe by His words and power. All things are anchored and sustained by Him. What this means is that He is the only being in the universe where self-glorification and self-exaltation is a good thing. Not just a good thing, but a necessary thing. If God cared more about anything other than Himself it would be a disaster, yet most people will not understand this because of projection and because of the Western world we live in today.

Yet if you can realize that history is actually “His story” and that everything was created for Him and by Him just like the bible says in Colossians 1:16, you can finally stop running the personal growth rat race and surrender.

Surrender to a perfect being with perfectly good intentions that wants your highest good and who is perfectly capable of getting you there despite your failures and constant resistance.

Surrender and win the greatest victory you could possibly win.

Surrender and create the greatest legacy you could possibly create.

Surrender and live the best life you could possibly live, forever.

This is the message of the gospel, and that is why in a world of bad news and fake news it is the Good News that everyone needs. Do you believe the Good News?

“Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone.” (Mark 16:15)

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