Why There Are No Shortcuts to Growth | Proverbs 12:11

Devotional

“Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.”

Like many Proverbs, this verse stands as a lesson on its own. It highlights the difference between one who is diligent and hard-working and one who pursues unrealistic dreams.

In all my verses so far, I have used the ESV translation, but for this verse I like the NIV. Rather than the use of “worthless pursuits”, it uses the word “fantasies”:

“Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.” (NIV)

In life, most people choose what is easiest. I am at fault of this as well at times; more times than I would like to claim. “Get rich quick” or “get fit quick” advertisements can be incredibly convincing, but they are nothing more than fantasies.

Being consistent is boring. Consistently showing up everyday, doing repetitive things can lead to burnout. So when we hear “do this one workout for bigger arms or to lose 10lbs” our eyes light up.

This is no different than showing up in the field, working our land in Proverbs 12:11. Working a field is slow, repetitive work. In today’s world, we would much rather hop on whatever is trending on social media to gain success.

The Bible teaches us that faithful work leads to growth, while chasing fantasies leads nowhere.

In both translations, the person chasing fantasies is described as lacking wisdom and discernment. Someone who blindly chases the fastest road to success will not be able to sustain success, even if the result is achieved.

There are no shortcuts to a harvest.

Workout

Just like the verse, our workouts will not change dramatically each week. There will be necessary tweaks to continue progressive overload, but it will still be the same foundation.

The goal of conditioning isn’t variety for the sake of variety. The goal is to improve our fitness so we can do more work with less fatigue.

Pull Day

Strength

1. Bent-over Rows: 4x12

2. Weighted Pull-ups: 3x8

3. Barbell Curls: 3x12

Conditioning - 3 round circuit

• Dumbbell Curls: 12

• Narrow-grip Cable Rows: 12

• Ab Wheels: 45 seconds