Purpose Driven Life Day 28

Day 28, May 28th, "It Takes Time"

    -Philippians 1:6 says, "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." God will continue to do good work in us, it just takes time. There are no shortcuts! The development of Christlike behavior cannot be rushed. "Spiritual growth, like physical growth, takes time." (Rick Warren). We don't grow up to be adults overnight, it takes time. Just like growing up, it is going to take time for us to develop fully to be how God wants us to be. We need to not worry about how fast we grow. We need to be more concerned about how strong we grow because thats what God worries about. God views our lives for eternity. He is developing us to live in eternity. He has our whole lives to develop us. "Before Christ invades our lives at conversion, he sometimes has to 'soften us up' by allowing problems we can't handle." (Rick Warren). God knows exactly what he's doing. He sees our future. Sometimes he has to place things in our lives so that we turn to him. For some of us, it only takes one knock but for most of us, we resist and become defensive and God has to continue to knock on our door to awaken us. We may think we have surrendered our whole life to God but, there's a lot to our lives that we are not aware of. "You can only give God as much as you understand at the moment." (Rick Warren). God continues to take up more territory in our lives until our life is completely his. In today's society, we are obsessed with speed but for God he only cares about strength and stability. Spiritual growth is gradual. There is no quick fix or instant solution. 2 Corinthians 3:18b says, "...our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him."

WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG!
     - God prefers to work in small steps in our lives, why?
     1. We are slow learners.
         - Time and again we have to relearn lessons over and over. We quickly go back to our old habits and need to be retaught things. I know this is true in my life. God places me in situations where I just need to surrender and trust him over and over again because I fail at it all the time. When will I learn to just trust him completely, he has never failed me before.
     2. We have a lot to unlearn.
          - Most of our habits did not develop over night so they are not going to be unlearned over night. It takes time to get rid of old habits and replace them with new. We have to be vigilant in replacing old habits with new habits.
     3. We are afraid to humbly face the truth about ourselves.
         - "The truth will set us free but often makes us miserable first." (Rick Warren). How many times have you held something in and been miserable and then when you finally told someone you felt better? It helps to at least tell one person so they can help you and pray with you. "We cannot grow without a humble, teachable attitude." (Rick Warren). We have to be teachable and humble and admit our mistakes. We can only work on our faults when God shows us the truth.
     4. Growth is often painful and scary. 

         - None of us like to go out of our comfort zone. It's safe. When we stay in our comfort zone the "storm" is smaller then us but, when we go out of our comfort zone the "storm" is greater than us but Jesus is always greater than the "storm". When we reach out of our comfort zone we get into a better life. You can't have growth without change. You can't have growth without fear or loss and no loss is without pain. We must let go of our old ways to experience new and better things. We can't let our hang ups define us.
     5. Habits take time to develop.

  - "Character is the sum total of our habits." (Rick Warren). This is why it is important to practice Christlike behavior. 1 Timothy 4:15 says, "Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress." When we start living with Christlike behavior people are going to notice and see you in a new perspective. It takes repetition. Like any sport, in order to get good at something you have to put in the repetitions. In gymnastics I would repeat skills on the uneven bars until both hands were bloody and my arms were shaking. It takes dedication but once you master the skill its all worth it.

DON'T GET IN A HURRY
     1. Believe God is working in your life even when you don't feel it.
         - God is always working in our lives even when we don't feel it. He is doing small tedious work. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven." We go through seasons of spiritual growth. Sometimes we see quick changes but most of the time they are slow gradual changes. "Over time, a slow, steady stream of water will erode the hardest rock and turn giant boulders into pebbles." (Rick Warren).
    2. Keep a notebook or journal of lessons learned.
        - We need to keep a record of what we are learning. Keep a record about life, yourself, relationships, etc. Then, we need to review it regularly. Reviewing it regularly will help us to understand and remember the lessons that we have learned. It can help spare us heartache and pain. Hebrews 2:1 says, "It's crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we've heard so that we don't drift off."
    3. Be patient with God and with yourself.
        - One of my favorite quotes from Rick Warren is, "One of life's frustrations is that God's timetable is rarely the same as ours." We are often in a hurry and God is not. God is never in a hurry but he is ALWAYS on time. God uses our whole life to prepare us for eternity. I know for me I am inpatient! I want things NOW but I have to learn patience and TRUST in God's timing. "Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering." (Rick Warren). The more we go through the storms and struggles, the greater are souls become. James 1:4 says, "So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."
     4. Don't be discouraged. 

         - "A delay is not a denial from God." (Rick Warren). If God places a desire on our hearts that doesn't mean its going to happen instantaneously, but it will happen in due time. If you are anything like me you hate due time. Due time is God's time, theres no timeframe for it which is frustrating. In the meantime, we have to remember how far we've come, not how far we have to go. We may not be where we want to be in life, but neither are we where we used to be. God isn't finished with us, we have to keep moving forward and stay positive, not discouraged.

Point to Ponder: There are no shortcuts to maturity.
Verse to Remember: "God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until its finished when Jesus Christ comes again." Philippians 1:6
Question to Consider: In what area of my spiritual growth do I need to be more patient and persistent?