Hope

Matter of Perspective

When I was a kid, my parents would often drive my sister and I to dance recitals. Many times on the drive, we would see a dam that commemorated the United States’ bicentennial. It stood out to our family because my mom and dad were married the year of the bicentennial celebration and my dad collected bicentennial quarters as a result. At the time, that landmark seemed so far away. When I saw it, I knew that the drive would be a long one, just like every drive that I had previously seen it on. It was a marker in my mind of a significant journey. 

Like a lot of other things, our perspective on distance and time changes as we get older. Ironically, I now drive past that same dam every time I go to work. I still live in the same area that I grew up in so the distance to it is approximately the same as it was when I was going to our performances, but the journey to it now doesn’t seem significant. In fact, the time passes pretty quickly and looking back I can see that my impatience was completely unwarranted. What seemed like a long time then, really wasn’t. 

A similar phenomenon can occur when we are waiting on God. As we pray for what we hope for and desire it can seem like time is dragging on and the wait is monumental. We may be eagerly anticipating when God is going to answer and counting down the days until He does so, just like I counted down each mile to our destination. However, God doesn’t ordain things according to our time schedule; He sovereignly orchestrates things according to His. Often when we look back we can see that we weren’t really waiting for a long time, we were waiting for the right time. And waiting on God’s good timetable is always worth it. 

Beloved saints – may we recognize that just like my perspective on how long the journey took was shaped by my limited understanding, so the same is true of our perspective on how God is at work in our lives. May we wait patiently to see His plan unfold; may we trust in Him each step of the way. And may we have confidence that if we look back on our lives from the vantage point of eternity, any amount of time that we spent waiting will be time that God used for His good purposes. 

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Growth

Committing to the Habits of Holiness

In Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, the author writes, “We [Christians} are continually to build up patterns and habits of holiness….” (p. 1809). In this section of the book, Grudem is writing about the process of sanctification, and through referencing Hebrews 5:14 he makes the point that no Christian should presume that becoming more Christ-like won’t require effort. Instead, those who follow God will have to actively and intentionally pattern their lives after Him. This is not a one-time endeavor, but a regularly commitment to walk in the way that He did. 

The phrase “habits of holiness” may sound strange to some because many people think that being “holy” is reserved for the truly exceptional Christians. Yet I Peter is clear that every child of God is called to be holy (I Peter 1:15). Christians are to become more like the One that they follow. However, like any type of endeavor worth pursuing, becoming more like Jesus does not happen without effort. Maturity in Christ is built upon the practices and the disciplines that are in keeping with His instructions; our sanctification is hastened by the habits of holiness. 

Let us not be confused; becoming more like Christ is not what is required for us to be a Christian. Repenting from our sin and placing our trust in Jesus’ work accomplished on the cross and through His resurrection are what is necessary for salvation (Rom 10:9-10). However, those who are saved will want to be more like their Savior; those who are redeemed by Jesus will want to do that which pleases Him.  And doing that which pleases Him requires discipline and commitment. It requires a daily turning from what we want to do to what He desires.  It requires putting into practice habits of holiness – of reading our Bible, praying, listening to and applying the teaching of God’s Word, engaging in regular fellowship with believers, and more – so that the lives of God’s kids more readily resemble the character of our Heavenly Father. 

Precious saints – let us not grow weary in this endeavor. Let us not think that our regular, intentional, and daily disciplines are not making a difference. Instead, let us recognize that God is using what may seem like inconsequential efforts to us to slowly and progressively conform us into the image of His Son. May we grow to treasure the habits of holiness for this reason. May we embrace the fact that it is through the obedience in the “small things” that God grows men and women to be great in His Kingdom. 

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