Not too long ago, a friend noted, “You seem to read a lot of John Maxwell’s books.” I smiled and said, “As long as he continues writing content that I can apply to my life, I’ll keep on reading.” And that’s just what I got from The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth.
John writes in the introduction of this book, “To reach your potential you must grow. And to grow, you must be highly intentional about it.” These 15 laws are indeed designed for those who want to intentionally grow, as none of them will come to fruition automatically or easily. The application of all of these laws will take time and intentional effort.
But what I appreciate about John Maxwell’s insights is their realism. He doesn’t write fluffy platitudes that sound nice yet really don’t change anything, but neither does he share thoughts that are unobtainable. Each of these 15 laws required me to confront myself, consider the potential for growth, and then make an intentional and specific plan to implement the principles he shared.
If you have read other John Maxwell books, you will discover many places where these laws overlap and are supported by principles from those books. But if haven’t read anything from this prolific author yet, 15 Laws is an excellent starting place to begin a new phase of leadership growth in your life.
Being a diehard University of Michigan Wolverines fan, it’s hard for me to say anything good about that school to the south of us. But being a lifelong learner of quality leadership insights, I have to tip my cap to Urban Meyer for the outstanding principles he presents in his book Above The Line.
Coach Meyer has been developing the principles he shares in this book for years, but he tells the story of how they all came together for his team during the season they went undefeated and won the college football national championship. As he correctly notes, leadership isn’t just for sports teams: “Where the coach’s job comes in is to get great players to play great. That is the responsibility of any leader in any organization.”
The title of this book comes from the overarching maxim for all of Meyer’s leadership teaching. It goes like this: E + R = O (where E is the Event, R is your Response to the event, and O is the Outcome. The response winning leaders are trying to develop in their team is an above-the-line response. He says that most of us default to below-the-line behaviors—
“It isn’t hard to find people who are caught up in Below the Line behavior. All you need to do is look for those whose first reaction is to blame (others), complain (about circumstances), and defend (yourself), or BCD. … Instead of accountability, BCD creates a culture of excuse making and victimization—things that are toxic for your organization and performance.”
The bulk of the rest of Above the Line is Coach Meyer elaborating on the six healthy “R” responses that leaders should be building into their team members. He says, “Here’s the bottom line: exceptional leaders think about common things in an uncommon way.” In keeping with this truism, Coach Meyer doesn’t share any uncommon leadership principles, but he does share them in ways that most leaders probably haven’t considered before.
Although this book is written by a college football coach, there isn’t much football talk on the pages of this book. So I can highly recommend this to any student of leadership who is ready to learn some new ways to get better outcomes to the events that happen to them and their organizations.
T.M. Moore wrote, “I’m persuaded that one reason the work of personal evangelism has fallen on hard times in our day is that the people of God are simply fearful of the task. We find no joy in bearing witness to Jesus. Instead, we’re afraid that others won’t receive us kindly, that they’ll lash out or, worse, talk about us to others. We fear we might mess up the Gospel presentation and permanently offend someone. We fear the questions and challenges others might pose, that we might not be able to answer them. We’re afraid of being laughed at, yelled at, or dismissed as foolish or deceived or mad.”
“Do not be satisfied, dear brethren and sisters in Christ, with the grace that you already have. Be thankful for it, but ask for the divine multiplication of it; regard the grace which you have already received as being like the boy’s loaves and fishes, and expect that Christ will continue to multiply it for you and for thousands of others round about you: ‘Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.’” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on 1 Peter 1:2
“Come to Me with a teachable spirit, eager to be changed. A close walk with Me is a life of continual newness. Do not cling to old ways as you step into a new year. Instead, seek My face with an open mind, knowing that your journey with me involves being transformed by the renewing of your mind.… Give yourself fully to this adventure of increasing attentiveness to My presence.” —Sarah Young, in Jesus Calling [she formed this quote from Romans 12:2; Jeremiah 29:11]
“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” —M. Scott Peck
Clinton Manley gives us two bad excuses that people give for either not reading their Bible or not applying what they did read. He says, “God woos us to His word with unblushing promises of reward; take hold of them.”
“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.” —Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Geneticists have found a single-cell pond ciliate that uses its RNA to send unexpected signals to the cell. “Surface-level study may make cells seem like simple chemistry, but deeper study reveals coded instructions, used by molecular tools and monitored by timing controls. Those tools operate as part of a larger biological network. This detailed process reflects sound engineering principles.” Even this tiny creature shows the flawless design of our Creator.
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Think back to some of the hard times you’ve been through. Do those times conjure up fond memories and a longing to return to yesteryear? Of course not! Most people do their best to forget these moments as quickly as possible, but a mature leader recognizes the value of the suffering they’ve endured. Join us for today’s episode as we discuss how your most painful moments have the potential to be your biggest opportunities for growth.
[0:00] Introduction
[0:16] During this episode you might be saying, “I don’t want to go there!”
[2:03] Growth comes from switching from, “How do I get out of this?” to “What can I get out of this?”
[3:08] Why do we avoid that painful lessons that could help us grow?
[4:53] Greg shares about a learning experience from his football career.
[6:13] My rough season led to a book called When Sheep Bite.
[8:15] We have to practice learning in difficult seasons.
[10:00] Pain can show us what needs to be changed to realize growth opportunities.
[13:02] Greg asks me what is one thing that held me back from learning from adversity.
[14:55] Greg shares what held him back earlier in his leadership journey.
[16:52] I have learned an important first response in difficult times.
[18:53] Sometimes we need an outside mentor to help us see where we’re struggling.
[22:00] “Your hardest times often lead to some of your greatest moments.”
About 14 years ago I wrote a blog post called “More and More” in which I was challenging myself and other Christians to keep setting the bar higher.
As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. (1 Thessalonians 4:1)
I pointed out that in the Greek language the phrase “more and more” in 1 & 2 Thessalonians is just one word. It means…
More willingly
More readily
Sooner
I asked, “When the Holy Spirit speaks to me, do I respond and obey more willingly? more readily? sooner?”
So here I am again looking back—all these years later—and asking myself: Am I still wanting more and more? Am I growing more and still more? Am I loving more and still more? Am I leading more and still more?
It’s a lifelong pursuit chasing after more and still more.
My book When Sheep Bite is all about recovering after difficulties—whether they were created by your mistakes or someone else’s mistakes. In the Introduction to my book I wrote:
I want to give you what I wanted when this happened to me: empathy, insight, a helpful perspective, and a manual of help that God has provided in the Bible. I don’t want to try to one-up your story of pain, because I’m confident that no one could truly know how deeply you’ve been hurt. But I do want to give you some assurance that I know what I’m talking about. …
Your pain and your circumstances are unique. Your pain is real, and it is incomparable to anyone else’s pain. But the biblical principles that God revealed to me—those things that helped me heal and the thoughts I want to share with you—are applicable for any shepherd. These tried-and-true principles can help you not just survive this pain but thrive in spite of this pain. I would say to you something that C.S. Lewis wrote, “Think of me as a fellow-patient in the same hospital who, having been admitted a little earlier, could give some advice.”
The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge. (Proverbs 18:15 AMPC)
It is a humble person who says, “I don’t know it all; there is so much more to learn.” Thusthe humble person becomes a lifelong learner. This pursuit increases the learner’s knowledge base, which requires diligence to make sure a know-it-all arrogance doesn’t creep in and block future learning.
Humility starts the process and humility can keep the process going for a lifetime. But be on guard: the more you learn, the easier it is to become proud of your learning. This arrogance will derail future learning and growth.
To maintain your gains and to continue to learn more, you have to fight to remain humble. Check out the blog post and flowchart Humility is a Daily Choice.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Even with the Voice of the Holy Spirit in our ear and the Mind of God giving us insight, we still “miss it” sometimes. Maybe it’s fear or impatience or immaturity, but we try something on our own and the results are painful.
I like the maxim, “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” It’s true, but in order to learn I need a proper lens or a wise tutor to help discover those lessons from my experiences. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us: He helps us make senses of our “misses.” Otherwise, if I don’t learn from these painful experiences I will become either arrogant and God opposes this kind of pride (Proverbs 14:7; James 4:6a), or I remain ignorant (Proverbs 15:32; James 4:6b).
Peter heard from Jesus that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was intended to empower the Christians to take the Good News of Jesus to all people—including Gentiles. Peter struggled with this part, as would all good Jews. In their minds, Gentiles weren’t eligible for the blessings of God, especially not the gift of eternal life which would allow them to be in God’s presence forever!
Before we look at Peter, we need to remember what was happening with Saul/Paul at the same time. Saul met Jesus (Acts 9:3-15), and he then went to Jerusalem (vv. 26-28; Galatians 1:13-19).
Now let’s go back to Peter. He had just seen a vision from God and heard the Voice of the Spirit (Acts 10:9-16, 19-20). In obedience to this Voice, he went to Cornelius’ house and was given the Mind of God to preach to them. These Gentiles not only accepted Jesus as their Savior but were baptized in the Holy Spirit (vv. 44-48).
Now let’s switch back to Paul for a moment. Antioch became the home base for Paul and Barnabas (where the believers were first called Christians), and apparently there was a large Gentile population there. At one point, Peter came to visit and struggled with whether or not the Gentile Christians must then convert to Judaism. Peter was struggling with obedience to the vision that God had shown him, his disobedience was beginning to affect others (including Barnabas), and Paul called Peter out on this (Galatians 2:1, 7-14).
Back in Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians were insisting that the Gentile Christians become Jews. It was this controversy that prompted the Jerusalem Council. At this Council, Peter responded like one who had throughly learned a lesson from his previous “miss” (Acts 15:5-11).
I like this verse in the Amplified Bible, particularly one phrase: I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn by sanctified experiences Your righteous judgments (Psalm 119:7 AMPC).
Sanctified experiences. A “miss” that the Holy Spirit uses to teach us. The “miss” has been sanctified to become a learning experience. This is what Jesus said the Spirit of Truth would do for us (John 16:13).
There are things we simply experience, and then there are “sanctified experiences” where the Holy Spirit teaches us an invaluable lesson. These sanctified experiences are what the Holy Spirit uses to bring our thought and conduct into alignment with the perfect standard of God’s Word.
The Holy Spirit never condemns us for our missteps (Romans 8:1), but uses them for God’s glory (v. 28).
Just as Paul had to help Peter learn to pay attention to the Voice of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit wants to make us learner-teachers as well. In Psalm 119:7 the Hebrew word for “learn” is lamad which is also the word for “teach.” In other words, I’ve learned it well enough to teach it to another person. Even David with his sinful behavior—a really big “miss”—learned from the lesson from the Spirit of God so well that he could teach others (Psalm 51:10-13).
Spirit-baptized Christians can lean into the Spirit of Truth to help them learn sanctified experiences from even the difficult things that have happened to them.
With many such parables Jesus spoke the Word to them, as they were able to hear and to comprehend and understand. He did not tell them anything without a parable; but privately to His disciples (those who were peculiarly His own) He explained everything fully. (Mark 4:33-34 AMPC)
We will “comprehend and understand” more when we are ready to handle it. There is a joy in the learning process—an excitement that comes as new depths of meaning are revealed to us. Be faithful and obedient with what has been revealed to you. Continue to abide in the presence of the Lord, meditating on His Word until He explains more to you.
Jesus wants us to understand His words.
There is a joy that comes through the prayerful pondering of and the searching through what He has said. Even if we don’t fully grasp all of the truth initially, what we do perceive is precious. And what we don’t fully understand, we keep searching. As G.K. Chesterton noted, “The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
Then Jesus said—
“Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation. For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything temporarily kept secret except in order that it may be made known. If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend.” And He said to them, “Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you—and more besides will be given to you who hear.” (Mark 4:22-24 AMPC)
Shepherd leaders cannot allow past hurts to negatively impact their current situations. Don’t give in to the natural fight-or-flight response, but ask God to help you response with supernatural faithfulness. I unpack this idea in greater depth in my book When Sheep Bite.
I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
In responding to an evolutionary biologist’s claims that the material world is all that matters, John Stonestreet invokes the timely wisdom of G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis. One of my favorite quotes from Lewis appears in this post: “A theory which explained everything else in the whole universe but which made it impossible to believe that our thinking was valid, would be utterly out of court… It would be an argument which proved that no argument was sound—a proof that there are no such things as proofs—which is nonsense.”
“Good leaders love leading the people they lead more than they love leading people.” —John Maxwell
Gerrit Scott Dawson writes about how the Bible helps us see ourselves more clearly. “The truth-telling mirror of Scripture exposes and composes us. Imagine a mirror that would make you as appealing as you could hope to be. Imagine a well of clear water that not only reflected but washed you clean of dirt and blemishes. When we read Scripture with open hearts and in reliance on the Spirit, that’s what happens.”
“Twice in the book of Hebrews we are urged to ‘consider Jesus.’ In Hebrews 3:1, the writer exhorts us to consider Jesus (κατανοήσατε) so that we will continue believing in and confessing Him throughout our lives. This word means to pay attention to something through direct observation, with the implication of also thinking about it, meditating on it, and returning to it often, just as one might carefully observe an object in creation or a work of art. … In Hebrews 12:3, the writer calls us again to consider Jesus, but this time as a work of rational analysis (ἀναλογίσασθε), a theological analysis, as opposed to an aesthetical contemplation. This suggests the need to study, read, think deeply, meditate, talk with others, and know Jesus in terms appropriate to His uniqueness and mission.” —T.M. Moore
“Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.” —Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Not too long ago, a friend noted, “You seem to read a lot of John Maxwell’s books.” I smiled and said, “As long as he continues writing content that I can apply to my life, I’ll keep on reading.” And that’s just what I got from The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. 
