It Takes Time
Purpose Driven Life #28
Cornwall
February 28, 2004
I want to grow up and be fully like Christ and I want to be that now! I don’t imagine that I’m the only one who feels this. I imagine that this is your desire, too. We don’t want to be babes in Christ. We don’t want to be immature. We don’t want to be less than we can be or less than we should be. We don’t want to be like those people that one author in the Bible had to write to and scold for being less than they should be.
Heb.5.12- 6.3- this isn’t where you and I want to be. We want to grow up and we can be impatient to grow up. In many ways, though, we’re like children or teens that want to be fully adult, but for whom that is not, yet, possible. It’s true for us, as for them, that it takes time to grow. To grow up, you have to ’put in your time’. There’s no shortcut. It does take some time.
I know that as we’ve talked about different aspects of the subject of growing more mature in Christ, that we’ve wanted to grab hold of the lessons and apply them and become fully what God has in mind. We’ve understood our need to become like Christ. We’ve understood that we’re transformed by the impact of Christ and His Word in our lives. We’ve seen how we grow through using our problems and our temptations as stepping stones toward greater Christ-likeness. But you, like me, are impatient for this process to advance. We are all in the same boat on that matter, and that’s a good place to be, frankly. We do not want to be complacent about growing. We need to be anxious to grow. However, we have to be realistic, too.
Think about a garden you’ll plant this year. In the spring, hopefully by the third week of May, we’ll be able to put in the seeds or the plants that will make up our gardens for this year. But, if you plant on May 20, can you expect to see the fruit of that planting on May 21? No. We know it takes weeks for the fruit of those tomato seedlings to be available for our use. It takes weeks to be able to go out and pick fresh lettuce, onions, radishes, and cucumbers for a fresh salad. In that time, we won’t have simply allowed what we’ve planted to grow, either. We’ll have been out there clearing away weeds that might get in the way of the growth. We’ve watered, to be sure there were adequate nutrients available for the tender plants. We’ve thinned many of our plantings, understanding that it’s impossible for every seed to thrive. We’ll have been very much involved in the growing of what we planted, knowing that it takes time for the fruit to come. This is the same with your life and mine, only the gardener is God!
Lane Adams drew a parallel that’s helpful, in some material we studied together at the Men’s Advance last spring. He drew on the example of how the American troops took enemy lands during the war. Particularly, he focused on how enemy strongholds on islands were taken. First of all, enemy strongholds were shelled with bombs from offshore ships. This led to the enemies moving farther inland, and this allowed the Marines to invade the island and establish a ’beachhead’ on the island; a beachhead was simply the beginning and small part of the island that they could control. Once that was secured, they began the long process of liberating the rest of the island, taking a bit of territory at a time, in many cases. Eventually, the whole island was brought under control, but not without many costly battles.
Adams went on to draw the parallel to our lives. Before Christ invaded our lives at conversion, he sometimes has to ’soften us up’ by allowing us problems we can’t handle. Sometimes we opened to him the first time he came to us, but sometimes we didn’t; the first time we opened ourselves to him, he established God’s beachhead in our lives. We didn’t surrender all to him at that point, but we began, and we gave God as much as we understood to give him at the moment. From that beachhead, Christ began the process, that continues to today, toward taking over more territory until all your life and mine is his. There will be battles until the return of Jesus, but we have tremendous assurance of ultimate victory, nonetheless.
Phil.1.6- you might want this to be the verse you memorize for this week- it’s tremendously encouraging! This describes the process we’re in and we have to be patient- with ourselves and with God, the gardener- in the process. If we grow too fast, we’ll not be as strong as we should be either. We’ve all known of fruit that has been forced and how it is never as good as fruit that matures as it is meant to mature. We want to be mature and excellent fruit of the master gardener! Each day, though, each of us is to grow, and so far, we’ve seen that this process involves believing through worship, belonging through fellowship, and becoming mature through discipleship. Each day, you and I become a little more like Jesus. Although we’d like to grow fast, God is more concerned with strength and stability than he is with speed. He’s not really ’into’ the fast food and quick culture.
2 Cor.3.18b- tells us how the process works. We are progressively becoming more like Jesus.
But why does this all take so long? After all, many of us have been walking with God for many years. I accepted Jesus as my Saviour when I was in mid-teens- that’s 35 years ago, already. For you, it may be as long or longer, and we can cry out that ancient cry of the prophets, ’how long, O Lord?’
1. We are slow learners. Sometimes we have to relearn a lesson many, many times. We forget lessons God teaches us and we revert to old patterns of behaviour. So, we need repeated exposure to the same lessons.
2. We have a lot to unlearn. This doesn’t occur overnight. It takes a lot of time. We want the instant answers, but, sadly, they don’t come that way. There is no pill or prayer or principle that will instantly undo all the damage of many years. I have read that it takes at least twice as long to unlearn a wrong habit or belief as it took to learn it in the first place. Eph.4.22-24 indicates a process that takes some time in relearning. Col.3.7-10 tells us similarly. It takes time to unlearn and relearn. At conversion, each of us was given a brand new nature, but we still have old habits, patterns, and practices that need to be removed and replaced.
3. We, often, are simply afraid to face the truth about ourselves. We can be scared to face the character defects that might show up when we face our deepest selves. We have to have a teachable and humble attitude so we can honestly look at ourselves and grow from where we are, to where God wants us to be.
4. Growth is often painful and scary. There is no growth without change and change is threatening to us and those who live around us. Every change involves a loss in some way; it’s not easy to let go of some deeply entrenched ways. Even if the old ways didn’t lead us where we want to go, they’re still familiar old ways and not easy to drop. They were likely comfortable and familiar while the new is not. Also, we often build our identities around our defects. We speak of our flaws as ’the way I am’. (People say, ’oh, I just have to say my mind’, or ’I just have to tell what I know’, or ’I’m just a bumbling idiot’, and the like, thus excusing themselves and hindering growth.) They’re a big part of us and hard to just jettison. Too, people around us expect us to be a certain way and if we choose a different way, it threatens them, too, and is difficult for them to adjust to. This is commonly understood in alcoholic relationships and in marriages where change is sought. Growth is painful to us and to others, in other words, and this gets in the way of growing up.
5. Habits take time to develop. I am the product of my habits, and learning new habits takes time. I’m not kind unless I’m habitually kind- one time doesn’t make me kind. (Describe what Mike said at Elice on the last night; I guess I always was genuinely concerned with how he was. I’m glad about that.) I’m not faithful unless I’m always faithful- time is involved. There is only one way to develop the habits of Christlike character and that is by practicing them, and that takes time. There are no instant habits. Paul urged this kind of behaviour on Timothy- 1 Ti.4.15. Notice that progress and time are involved for people to notice what’s going on. I get so impatient at this need for time. In church development, I am very impatient, but it takes time, too. If we practice something over time, we’ll get good at it, and the repetition will form new and improved character and skill. But it all takes time.
In the process, though, there are things to do to cooperate more fully with God. You need to believe he is working in your life even when you don’t feel it. Think back to Phil.1.6- repeat this. It’s clear that God is there. Never allow anyone to deny you that reality. He is there no matter what you are going through at the time. Don’t give up. When you do, you begin to die, actually. Last week, I read "Night" by Elie Wiesel- about concentration camp life. He noted, on more than one occasion, that when someone gave up hope in God, they began to die and it was not long before they were part of the ’selection’ for the crematory, or they just ’died’. Victor Frankl spoke of one person, in this same vein, who died in a matter of three days after giving up hope. God IS there- there’s no question of that. He doesn’t take away all the obstacles just because you’re converted anymore than we take away all the obstacles in life just because our children are born into our families.
I’d like to encourage you to keep a notebook or journal of your journey and the lessons you have learned. This is valuable to go back to on occasion to confirm what God has been doing. Sometimes you don’t see the pattern, or the road, but when you look back over some months or years, with something written down, you can see rather clearly.
And, be patient with God and with yourself. God, often, uses a long process to prepare people for what he has in mind. Moses took 80 years to prepare for the really productive last 40 years of his life. Joseph had to be in prison, even, and had to suffer a great deal to be ready to save Egypt from the famine, and his family, too. Keep going forward KNOWING that God is there. God works in a different time frame than we do. Yes, 70 years isn’t very long and God isn’t fulfilling his entire plan in any one of our lives, but over thousands of years, God is doing his fullest work. We’re part of that, though, and are to yield ourselves to what part he has in mind for us. Look back and see how far you’ve come and know that the same kind of progress awaits you.
Conclusion
It’s a simple point, but necessary to face, as we are impatient to be all God wants us to be. God takes time to do his perfect and wonderful work. Remember this, as we close today: PBPGINFWMY- Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet!
