"It was perseverance that got the snails to the ark".
Charles Spurgeon
How do you get something to move that by nature doesn't want to move? How do you deal with anything that goes slower than you want it to? Are you patient? Do you wait it out? Do you bide your time?
The amazing challenge I am learning about ministry within the church is everyone does not move at the same pace. Let me be clear that all is well, everything is fine and I have no complaints. I am not talking about anyone, I am just talking about what I am talking about. We have some rabbits, cheetahs, gazelles and even some greyhounds in all of our ministries. Fast thinkers, fast reactors, not prone to sitting still and if you aren't careful, will get ahead of you.
I must admit a character flaw in me. I don't mind fast people as I myself have been known to engage in some speeding moments. In ministry, how do you deal with the slow ones. Just like in all ministries, we have people who go too fast, we also have those you go slow, or move so slowly, you can't even tell they are moving at all.
For every rabbit there is a tortoise, for every cheetah there is a sloth and for every leopard there is a snail. Since we don't get to pick and choose who or even how we minister to the people we are called to, How do you deal with the ones that move slower than you would like? It is clear they are moving, it's just not as fast as you would like.
An old book I am re-reading which seems like I am reading it for the first time is Charles Swindoll's book in "Three Steps Forward Two Steps Back: Persevering Through Pressure" and it is blessing my life. We grow and we learn not when things come our way instantly but when we are forced to wait. There is a benefit to snails, THEY TEMPER US! There is a benefit to sloths, THEY SEASON US! There is a benefit to the tortoise, THEY MELLOW AND MATURE US!
J.B. Phillips has a great paraphrase on James 1:2-4. I have always looked at in from a trials view and not from a waiting and developing view that will teach endurance but it says:
"when all kinds of trials and tribulations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence.
Owens
2 comments:
I knew God woke me up early for some reason, it was to be encouraged by your post. I don't know if it's from my days of having to run while growing up in the projects of Chicago or my time in the Marines, but slow is not my thing. What I am learning through it all is that I can deal with slow if we are making progress, but slouthfulness is unacceptable to me. But like you say, It's doing more for me than it is to me....Still praying.
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU PASTOR OWENS FOR PRAYING FOR ME . WHEN I FLET LIKE MY DAYS WAS DARK AND MY NIGHTS WAS PITCH BLACK,WHEN MY MIND WAS RACEING AND MY BODY WAS SHUTTING DOWN.YOUR WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT HELPED ME THROUGH MY DARK NIGHTS AND PITCH BLACK NIGHTS IT ALSO HELPED MY MIND AND BODY GET ON THE SAME TRACK.SO FROM ME TO YOU THANKS FOR BRIGHTER DAYS AND NOT SO DARK NIGHT FOR GIVING ME THAT SHAKE THAT YOU AND I KNOW I NEEDED .LEARNING HOW TO WAIT IS NOT EASY AND GIVING IS JUST NOT FOR ME. I'M GOING BACK TO SCHOOL,I'M GOING TO KEEP PRAYING, WORKING AND GOING TO CHURCH.SO KEEP ME IN YOUR PRAYS
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