Day by Day - Dec. 30, 2010

Humans are strange creatures. We run faster when we lose our way. Instead of pausing to regroup, we ricochet from place to place. Three words describe our times: hurry, worry, and bury.

In this race called life, when the pressing demands of time are upon us, we need to stop and get oriented. We need to discover that the Lord is God. He will be exalted; He is with us; He is our stronghold.

Remember during your growing-up years how your mother had a specially designed wall with some pencil marks on it where, as you grew from year to year, she marked where your head reached? We had such a wall in our home. It was interesting to see how our children went through certain growth spurts at times.

On occasions, it was convicting when I came back from a trip and one of the smaller children asked, "Daddy, how much did you grow while you were away?" No, they didn't have spiritual growth in mind, but I often thought about their question in that light. They wanted to know, "Do you keep growing? When does it stop?"

God uses an infinite number of vehicles in the process of helping us grow. I do not know of any means that leads to instant growth. I've never met anyone who became instantly mature. It's a painstaking process that God takes us through, and it includes such things as waiting, failing, losing, and being misunderstood—each one calling for extra doses of perseverance. In your own spiritual growth, where are the marks on the wall of your life? Where do you stand in light of last year? Or how about the last decade?

Christian growth comes through hard-core, gutsy perseverance of applying what you hear and obeying it. 

Reprinted by permission. Day by Day, Charles Swindoll, July 2005, Thomas Nelson, inc., Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved. Purchase "Day by Day" here.