Time is an Element of Growth

God uses the passages of time as one element of growth for His people. Within the element of time, growth follows a defined order that spiritual movement is occurring. Spiritual growth should bring forth fruit of one kind or another over time. Many growers expect that if they read their Bibles and do the right things, they will instantly and permanently change. They become disappointed when this does not happen. They ask themselves why is growth taking so long? They feel God has let them down or they are doing something wrong. When people enter the growth process, it comes with great hope and excitement and then, somewhere along the way, they get discouraged because they are not seeing the results they would like. Growth takes time, is a process, and takes lots of practice.

Time is a process of repair: God did not include time in His plan, as He exists outside of time, in eternity. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He experiences past, present, and future all at the same time (Exodus 3:14). We too, were created to live in an eternal state of joy and fullness, however, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God wonderful creation was marred. God knew the seriousness of our situation and He knew that two things were necessary to fix the problem. The first was an atoning death to satisfy the requirements of His holiness. The second was a process of repair for His creation to be redeemed and healed from what it had brought upon itself. This is the process we call time. Time takes the creation out of the eternal state, as quarantine takes a sick person out of the community. This is so that the disease of sin will not contaminate eternity. When creation is healed of sin, time will be no more as its job will have been accomplished. We will again enter the eternal state with God. There will be no progression of day and night in eternity, only a continual day illuminated by God Himself (Revelations 22:5).

Time is a gift: The gift of time applies also in the lives of individuals. When a person comes to faith in Christ, the guilt of sin is removed from him, and he now has a relationship with God. Yet he is born again not as an adult, but as a spiritual baby. Like an infant, he must now enter the process of growth over time and receive the elements of growth that will one day mature him. This is what Peter means by our growing in salvation (1 Peter 2:2). Miracles do still happen. The Bible and our own experiences show that God does do instant and marvelous things. And we need to ask for these, receive them when they happen, and thank God for them. However, the norm taught in the Bible is a model for growth (Mark 4:26-29, Ephesians 2:20-21, Colossians 2:19, and 2Peter 3:18). Believing in teachings that only emphasize deliverance can produce in people to not be dependent on God and His maturing ways, but in a “spiritual event” to heal them. Be open to the process and to the miraculous. God is for us in both ways. The process is not a structure-less journey you can’t know or understand. Rather, God wants you to be a co-laborer in this process (Philippians 2:12-13).

Everyday living: Make the adjustment from an instant results mentality to a Biblical process of growth that produces fruit over time. Understand why growth takes time, and understand the purpose of time in that process.