“The stretching of your faith is immediate pain that results in ultimate gain. It is in the waiting that we become who we are meant to be.” ~ Mandy Hale
When was the last time you ever heard someone say enthusiastically, “Gee, I’m still in line. I haven’t been served yet. But that’s just fine by me because I just love waiting!” Anyone? I didn’t think so.
We are not a waiting kind of people. We are, instead, an immediate gratification kind of people. As they say, we want what we want when we want it. And it better happen tout de suite.
However, God does not work on our time. He does not manage on our plan. He does not take orders from us. We, on the other hand, are on God’s time and we need to learn to embrace both His time and His will if we are to be fulfilled. That does not mean that we are going to be fulfilled immediately.
No. Because of our human nature, we need to be perfected first. We need a lot of work, some would say. That work takes time and that work is going to “cost” us. There is a certain pain to spiritual growth because God has to lovingly, gently, yet completely, pull out the weeds that we have allowed to grow in the garden of our souls.
Our weeds — sin — sometime have very long, wide, and deep roots. They hang on tenaciously and they hurt as they are pulled. Pride, arrogance, impertinence and a whole host of other vices need to be cleansed from us.
It may hurt when they are being pulled but the final result is wonderful. We become people filled with the peace, love, and joy that only God can bring.
Do not be deceived by the world. It might promise happiness and, to a certain extent, it delivers. But the happiness that the world delivers is more gratification than true happiness. The happiness that God delivers, on the other hand, is substantial and can carry us through eternity.
FAITH ACTION: Allow God to work in you, pointing out the areas in which you need to grow, and challenging you to make the changes necessary in your life.