The other day after running I was sitting on the bench by the church and praying. I looked down and saw a little clover plant near my foot, and it was moving. It wasn’t just swaying in the breeze, but jerking back and forth. I could see no cause for the movement, so I assume there was some little critter underground tugging on the roots.
It made me start thinking, so often the things we see have small causes that we may never see (as in the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13, which was the subject of a recent sermon). In our own lives, spiritual growth often takes small steps that we may not really pay attention to, though eventually the cumulative result is highly visible. But the thing is, it has to happen from the inside out. Trying to manage behavior without changing the heart is a hopeless endeavor. Reforming the flesh only makes us better looking sinners. It’s like trying to make a plant grow by dressing up the surface. That doesn’t really do anything for the plant. (But try telling that to the poinsettia growers who insist on decorating the leaves with glitter!) The only thing you can do to the outside of the plant is perhaps kill a few insects. Real growth has to come from water and fertilizer being absorbed through the roots.
Max Lucado gives the rather bizarre example of a freezer that got unplugged. He did everything he could to polish the outside, dress it up, and encourage it with love and friends, but wondered why it was still full of rotting food (The Applause of Heaven). We try to do the same with our lives by making ourselves look and feel better without changing the root problem. Only God can change the heart. And the good news is that for believers He has already done the dirty work of forgiveness. What we need now is to turn to Him for the nourishment for growth, strength to resist temptations, and faith that He will do what He has promised.
And since the church is made up of many individuals, growth in the church can only happen through growth in the lives of the individual members. Each little seed that has been sown has to grow up together for the field to become full and ready for harvest. It is discouraging in our own lives if we don’t see the kind of growth we’re looking for, and the same is true in the local church. Sometimes we have to trust that God is indeed at work even if we don’t yet see the fruit. We want to go out in the orchard and paint the apples red in order to make them ripen faster. As James wrote, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains” (James 5:7). God’s fruit will grow and ripen in His time, not our own.
I have to say, I wish God would work a little faster sometimes! He certainly has the power, and just think what a testimony it would be to the world. But He doesn’t seem to do that very often. Discouragement is one of the greatest tools of the enemy. If we fail to see or believe that God is at work, then it is easy to give up and give in to temptation, depression, and doubt. That’s why it is crucial to have those folks in our lives who know us well and can point out what God is doing that we may otherwise overlook or discount. We can be so focused on the negative that we don’t see anything else. We need frequent reminders that God is at work even though it seems too little and too slow.
