
We need to have realistic expectations - everything moves from seeds to seedlings to flowers to fruit in their own time
“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace” —Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
If you are growing a garden you know that there is an order to the process. Every plant in the garden makes a natural progression from seed to seedling to flowering plant to fruit to decline to death in their own time. We see the same process in the development of our physical bodies. Every human grows from embryo to fetus to infant to child to adolescent to adult to decline and death in their own time.
The same order is true of our spiritual life. Every person goes from sinner to repentance to forgiven to baby christian to adolescent to adult in the process of becoming more like Jesus. The difference is rather than experiencing a decline and death we end the process with a fulfillment of life in God’s presence. All of that is to say that we would be wise to set our spiritual growth expectations accordingly. No matter how much we may want to skip the seedling stage and go straight to fruit, or how much we may want to skip the spiritual infant stage and go straight to spiritual adult you can’t. You have to submit yourself to the process God put in place. And of course there is no correlation between physical maturity and spiritual maturity.
Growth Challenge- Find your Season
So spend some time today in prayer specifically asking God to show you where you are in your growth journey. Also understand that it is possible to be mature in one area and immature in another depending on many factors. So stay open and don’t be discouraged if God points out some places we need to grow up a little.