If you are born of God; then in you God will green; His godhead is your sap; your beauty is in him.
~Angelus Silesius (1624–1677)
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule,let us be of the same mind.
~Philippians 3:12-16
Oh beloved, the path to maturity is a difficult one. Will we ever get there? Sometimes it is frustrating. Seems like a definite case of one step forward and two steps back sometimes. And as G_d continues to work on us, we begin to see how much work is needed to make us look anything like Him in our daily lives.
Truly, though, Christ has laid hold of us!
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
~John 10:28
And He will take us along a pathway to maturity in Him. It seems that one sure indicator of progress is patience or “waiting.” It does seem, too, that there are some markers along the way that help us to see the progress of His work in our lives.
- Starting Point: No Waiting. Get it Now. We expect instant gratification. Hopefully, this is a road marker that is well behind us. This is the place of our infantile existence. We cry and scream to get what we want. And we want it now. Our own desires are paramount.
- First Way-Point: Waiting by Punishment. We learn to wait, but we often have to have that waiting worked into us by discipline or even punishment. Our desires are subjugated by force.
- Second Way-Point: Waiting through Delayed Gratification: This is an important step in the life of any developing believer. We begin to see the need and virtue of setting aside our desires for a time so that other more important things can happen. We also learn that we sometimes have to work for things, or wait for better things than what we want right now. Our desires are set aside momentarily.
- Third Way-Point: Waiting through Abandonment: We come to a place where we abandon even our own right to seek gratification of our own desires; and instead fully entrust our desires to the One who is able to best decide what should be in our lives. Our desires are not forgotten. But we simply wait on Him in faith. And, oh by the way, something interesting begins to happen: We start to want what HE wants. Really good stuff!
Beloved, don’t be discouraged when you find yourself back at a way-point you thought you had already passed!
As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
~Psalm 103:13-14
But don’t stop waiting! Trust Him. It is well-said that G_d is too kind to do anything cruel and too wise to ever make a mistake. And He is definitely to deep to explain Himself.
Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both thy hands, as a true opportunity and blessed occasion of dying to self, and entering into a fuller fellowship with thy self-denying, suffering Savior. Look at no inward or outward trouble in any other view; reject every other thought about it, and then every kind of trial and distress will become the blessed day of thy prosperity. That state is best, which exerciseth the highest faith in and fullest resignation to God.
~William Law (1686–1761)
