Luke 1:80 (ESV)
[80] And the child grew and
became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his
public appearance to Israel.
When we read the stories in the Bible,
we sometimes lose the time perspective. John wasn’t born and then instantly
became the baptizing, fire and brimstone preacher we find in chapter 3. This little
verse, one sentence at the end of chapter 1, is significant. “The child grew.”
The child “became strong in spirit.” And “he was in the wilderness until the
day . . .”
Time passed. It took time for
that little baby to grow to be a man. It took time for that young man to become
strong in spirit. It didn’t happen overnight. He didn’t rush into the ministry.
He waited in the wilderness learning, growing, and preparing. Sometimes I think
we get impatient. We want to rush the process. We want to be mature now, but
maturity takes time. We want to be patient now, but patience grows through waiting
and adversity.
What is perhaps worse than our
impatience with our own spiritual growth, is our impatience with that of
others. Grief takes time to process. Lifetime habits take time to change. Old
ways of thinking take time to transition. We talk about transformation in
Christ, but transformation is both instantaneous and a lifelong process. Romans
12 reminds us to be “transformed by the renewal of your mind.” But that takes
time. In fact Romans 12:2 implies that. He continues, “be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will
of God.” Testing is involved, and testing takes time. Neither renewal nor testing
is instantaneous.
It took John approximately 30 years to prepare
for a few months of significant ministry. Maybe we could be a little more
gracious and patient with ourselves and with others. Who knows what God is
preparing us for.
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