Invisible Progress
I asked Lee to share something God has been teaching him through his time in the Word, through a recent sermon series, or in community. These are his reflections.
To get in better shape, I have been trying to swim every morning before work. Recently, I had to switch pools as the pool I have been using was going to be closed for a while. The new pool is distinctive in two different ways; first, it is twice as long (50 meters rather than 25) and it has a cleaner, smoother surface on the bottom. As a result, it is possible to swim quite a distance without seeing any evidence of your progress. You feel like you are putting in a lot of effort, but can’t see any appreciable progress.
When I first started swimming regularly, this was a big problem. I felt like I was putting in
tremendous effort without getting much in the way of results. I would get to the far end of the pool completely exhausted, wondering how others seemed to be making swimming effortlessly. Now, at this new pool, some of that old frustration returns until I get to a point where there is a marker on the bottom of the pool. This allows me to see that, no, I am not stuck in one place. I am actually making better than expected progress.
In the first chapter of James, we are told to “Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance (and) let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) As our days go by, one after the other, it can feel like we are not making any progress in our spiritual journey. We know we are doing the things we need to do, but see precious little that looks like progress. It takes a certain degree of faith to rest in the fact that God has taken a great interest in our progress and is working diligently to bring us to spiritual maturity. Only occasionally do we witness a marker or milestone that confirms for us that we have made far more progress than we realized. Our job, therefore, is to follow after God; His is to arrange our lives in such a way that spiritual maturity is the inevitable outcome.
As Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6 (MSG) “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” Jesus has promised to bring us to spiritual maturity, we simply need to keep paddling in the right direction, even if progress is not apparent.
To get in better shape, I have been trying to swim every morning before work. Recently, I had to switch pools as the pool I have been using was going to be closed for a while. The new pool is distinctive in two different ways; first, it is twice as long (50 meters rather than 25) and it has a cleaner, smoother surface on the bottom. As a result, it is possible to swim quite a distance without seeing any evidence of your progress. You feel like you are putting in a lot of effort, but can’t see any appreciable progress.
When I first started swimming regularly, this was a big problem. I felt like I was putting in
tremendous effort without getting much in the way of results. I would get to the far end of the pool completely exhausted, wondering how others seemed to be making swimming effortlessly. Now, at this new pool, some of that old frustration returns until I get to a point where there is a marker on the bottom of the pool. This allows me to see that, no, I am not stuck in one place. I am actually making better than expected progress.
In the first chapter of James, we are told to “Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance (and) let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) As our days go by, one after the other, it can feel like we are not making any progress in our spiritual journey. We know we are doing the things we need to do, but see precious little that looks like progress. It takes a certain degree of faith to rest in the fact that God has taken a great interest in our progress and is working diligently to bring us to spiritual maturity. Only occasionally do we witness a marker or milestone that confirms for us that we have made far more progress than we realized. Our job, therefore, is to follow after God; His is to arrange our lives in such a way that spiritual maturity is the inevitable outcome.
As Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6 (MSG) “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” Jesus has promised to bring us to spiritual maturity, we simply need to keep paddling in the right direction, even if progress is not apparent.