Slow cooker or Microwave?
I love the latest article by Wayne Jacobsen from “Lifestream” called “Slow Cookin‘“, and not just because Wayne admits that his favorite restaurant serves Barbecue. In this article, Wayne reminds us that God’s work in us is not usually accomplished overnight, but is a long, slow process.
We don’t like that in our microwave, fast-food society, but that is the way God has always worked. He reminds us that God told Abraham that he would have a son 25 years before Isaac was born. Of course, Abraham was not patient either. He also decided to help God along with his plan.
But, listen carefully to what Wayne says:
See, we know that now. We didn’t know it years ago, but living now in the beauty of God’s unfolding work in our lives (and being in our 50s here probably doesn’t hurt) we know the best things in our life were produced in a slow-cooking process of God transforming us at a deeper level so that we could enjoy the fruit of what he wanted to produce in us. Whether it was setting us free in a broken area, drawing us closer to his presence, or connecting us to other brothers and sisters for rich rich fellowship and doing things in God together, none of those things happened quickly. But they did happen deeply and we’re now experiencing the riches of those things…
If you’re going to enjoy this life in him, that’s something you’re going to want him to teach you. Otherwise you’ll be counting days and fighting off frustration at every turn. Father knows everything about you and where you are today. He knows what he is doing in you to open the real doors into that life in him you’ve been praying about for years. He is doing his work in you to bring that to fruition. Unfortunately, it’s just probably going to take a whole lot longer than you’re thinking it will. But if your eyes are on him, rather than on the outcome, the delay won’t matter. In fact it will only make the final result so much more tasty and succulent.
Perhaps you’re happy with the kind of relationship that is built overnight. If not, trust God to develop you in his own way and in his own timing. It may take longer than you expect. But, the outcome is depth of relationship with God and with others – that is, Christ-likeness.
The title of this post stuck right out at me. This has been a ‘theme’ I’ve enjoyed discussing with others for a long time, and I’ve even posted at least two blogs on the same subject in the past 3 months. (Slow-cooking together and Microwave Christianity, in case anyone’s interested).
It’s easy for us to get frustrated with ourselves and even with God when we don’t see the fruit that we think we should see coming out of our lives in the timing that we feel it should be happening, but I really don’t find any place in the Bible in which God is worried or frustrated about whether or not His plans will come to pass. 🙂 Since we are His workmanship, and since it’s He who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure, then we can rest assured that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it — quite sufficiently, and in His timing!
To add to this post and comment, with which I whole heartedly agree, I do not see anything in scripture that says we “arrive!” We will be with the Lord one day and on that day the work will be completed, but until then we are on the journey.
I know some people believe that we can be “wholey santified” in this life time, but I have not met anyone or heard of anyone who has.
This doesn’t make me any the less want to run the race. Far from it, my hunger grows. It feels like when I had been a Christian a year I thought it would take another year! After two years it felt like it would take another two years and now after 17 years I am looking forward to the next 17!
Having waffled on that, it has just occured to me how the “microwave” attitude is so often attached to “the urgency of the work!” That is that I have met a lot of people who feel that we should focus on “saving the lost” rather than “growing to maturity.” If we fully trust God then we know that He didn’t recruit us because He needed us straight on the front line. He built into His plan the time it would take for us to mature. He wasn’t waiting for us because He didn’t know what He would do until we could help! Even Jesus waited thirty years and only did three years ministry. But what an impact He made in those three years having waiting in the slow cooker. John Wesley’s mum was said to have a flame in her that she could not do anything about as she had so many children to look after. Instead, she passed that flame onto her children so that they could set the country alight. That flame went beyond our shores.
Richard
Joel,
Thanks for pointing us to those posts. This isn’t the first time we’ve had similar posts, is it? 🙂
Richard,
I’m very glad that you added your comment to my post. To me, this is the great part of blogging – listening to one another (a topic which I discuss in a post that I will publish a little later today).
-Alan