It Takes Time
Theme of the Week: Work in Progress
Thursday, March 20, 2003
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Key Bible Verse: The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8). Bonus Reading:2 Peter 1:3-11
Bruce Wilkinson once began a retreat by asking the attendees, "How many years was it before you really started to do business with God?" Not before he counted up to eight, nine, even ten years did a majority of hands go up. I obtained a similar result at a weekly men's Bible study I teach.
We become a Christian in one sparkling instant when God massages our heart to life, but then we spend years, even decades, laboring to work out the details of what it means to be a Christian. Why does it take so long?
Some changes do take place rapidly, even dramatically. For the majority of us, though, most change comes slowly, often painfully slowly. I've always found the changes in my own life come so slowly that they make molasses look like a flash flood.
Jesus hints at why it takes so long in this familiar parable: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants and grows into a tree where birds can come and find shelter in its branches" (Matthew 13:31-32).
Why does it take so long? It takes time to grow a tree.
—Patrick M. Morley in The Rest of Your Life
My Response: How can I cultivate my own growth to maturity?
Thought to Apply: We are converted little by little to God, and by stages.
—John Calvin (French reformer, 16th century)
Adapted from The Rest of Your Life (Nelson, 1992) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Lord, don't let me accept staying stunted; give me the desire to develop into a solid disciple.
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