It takes TIME

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season. Ecclesiastes 3:1

There are no shortcuts to maturity. It takes years for us to grow to adulthood, and it takes a full season for fruit to mature and ripen. The same is true for the fruit of Spirit. The development of Christlike character cannot be rushed. Spiritual growth, like physical growth, takes time.

When you try to ripen fruit quickly, it loses its flavor. While we worry about how fast we grow, God is concerned about how strong we grow. This is because God views our lives from and for eternity, so he is never in a hurry.

The moment you open yourself to Christ, God gets a "beachhead" in your life. You may think you have surrendered all your life to Him, but the truth is, there is a lot to your life that your aren't aware of. You can only give God as much of you as you understand at that moment. That's okay. Once Christ is given a beachhead, He begins the campaign to take over more and more territory until all of your life is completely His. There will be struggles and battles, but the outcome will never be in doubt. God has promised that "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion"

Today, i am obsessed with speed, but God says no, because He is more interested in strength and stability than swiftness. I want the quick fix, the shortcut, the on-the-spot solution. I want a sermon, or an experience to release me from all growing pains and temptations. But then i soon reliazed that real maturity is never the result of a single experience, no matter how powerful or moving. Growth is gradual.Growth is also often painful and scary.There is no growth without change, no change without fear or loss, and no loss without pain. I fear these losses, because, like a worn out pair of shoes, they were at least comfortable and familiar.

People always build their identity around their defects. We often say "it's just the way I am". The unconscious worry is that if I let go of my habit, my hurt, or my hang-up, who will I be? This fear seems to have definitely slowed down my growth. Sometimes, i just pray that all those problems, habits and hurts will be miraculously removed. But God is never in a hurry. You know, it seems to me that God is preparing me for my role in eternity.

And if you read the bible, you will find that the bible is filled with examples of how God uses a long process to develop character. He took 80 years to prepare Moses, including forty in the wilderness. For so many years Moses kept wondering, "Is it time yet?" But God kept saying "Not Yet".

Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering. When God wants to make a mushroom, he does it overnight. But when he wants to make a giant oak, he takes a hundred years...