by Brian Wong

Imagine a seed being planted in the dirt and its becoming a full-sized tree. Now think about a candle burning down or a puddle on the cement evaporating. Do you see a pattern? Each of these things takes a lengthy amount of time for the process to actually finish, and if you were to observe them real-time, the changes would be so insignificant that you wouldn’t be able to perceive them. But when you want to imagine these examples, you would see these processes as a time lapse going much faster than what it would actually be. After all, who has time to actually sit there and watch a puddle evaporate from start to finish?

Though we can visualize a seed becoming a tree within only a few seconds, it would be absurd to expect this process to actually take as short as it could in our imagination. However, is it possible that we could have this kind of expectation when it comes to spiritual matters? Understandably so, I think many of us would rather be further sanctified and have people become saved sooner rather than later. Salvation and sanctification are good things, so what’s the hold-up? But does our desire for these things to happen according to our convenient timing reflect the actual reality of our Creator’s sovereign and wise plan for our good? In order to address this, let’s look at a practice that has been vital to human civilization’s development that is still relevant today: agriculture!

Scripture makes many references and comparisons of the Christian life to agrarian concepts: evangelism is described as planting seeds, trusting Christ as following a good shepherd, faithful witnesses as laborers in a harvest, and much more. I want to particularly bring your attention to what the Bible likens to fruit. Fruit is generally used to describe sanctification and the development of the heart in a way that is pleasing to God (Luke 6:43-45, Gal. 5:22-23, Phil. 1:9-11, Col. 1:9-10). Because this comparison is frequently found throughout the New Testament, it should prompt us to look deeper into why that is the case as well as the implications behind this imagery. Though many analogies fall short of explaining the full weight or significance of spiritual matters, they are still helpful in guiding our understanding of the subject. Thus, if we take a look at the characteristics of fruit, we can glean some helpful principles and ideas of sanctification and growth as a Christian.

Before a fruit can even form, a flower must be fertilized; in order for it to be fertilized, it must be pollinated; but before pollination, the flower must already be blossomed; but in order for a flower to blossom, the tree must already be pretty mature; and to get a tree to that level of maturity, you have to…

And you get the point. Before we even get to the formation of fruit, we’re looking at years of attention, work, and patience put into nurturing the tree. Even when fruit forms, it still needs time to ripen and mature. Don’t forget that during this process, the trees are also vulnerable to poor weather conditions, diseases, and pests! However, at that point, the most that we can do is to wait for the fruit to mature. There’s no special trick or technique that people can do to speed up this maturing process; nature has to simply run its course. While one of the main elements that is needed for a tree to mature and bear fruit is time, we can also play an important role in the early development of the tree by means of proper and consistent watering, weeding, and pruning.

So given what we know about fruit and trees, one of the biggest implications we can draw from this comparison is that sanctification is a marathon, not a sprint. We shouldn’t be expecting ourselves to grow into ripe fruit overnight, and we also shouldn’t hold that expectation on others. God has provided the means for us to grow if we are faithful in practicing them, such as spending time in the Word, in prayer, and involvement in the local church. Similarly as to how you cannot simply dump buckets of water onto a growing tree in one instance and then neglect it afterwards, we cannot only rely on dramatic changes (i.e. retreats, conferences, etc.). We must seek after daily faithfulness, understanding that God has not given us a lifetime supply of grace to portion, but we must ask for it daily (Matt. 6:9-13).

Going back to what I mentioned in the very beginning of this article, it is convenient and part of our natural inclination to want to fast-forward things that might seem mundane so that we can get straight to the results. We think that the processes of a tree growing, a candle burning, or a puddle evaporating aren’t valuable enough to pay attention to, and we’re fine with just taking a peek every now and then to see how much has changed since the last time we saw it. That’s fine and all, but beware of applying that type of thinking to spiritual matters, because God doesn’t see it that way.

If God wanted to zap our sin and our struggles with it away, he could. We’ve seen Jesus instantly wither a fig tree; so he can certainly bring forth mature fruit if he wanted to. But God gives us the comparison of living the Christian life to bearing fruit for a reason. He cares not simply for the maturity of the fruit, but for His people’s daily faithfulness in mundane things even if there might be no perceived results in their sight. We are called to walk by faith and not have our obedience dependent on what we can see around us; the aim isn’t just to bear fruit that we can point to and boast in, but to please Him who has bought us with a price (2 Cor. 5:6-9). Thus, we are to embrace this process of sanctification and diligently steward the means that God has given us to grow and obey Him, even if not much around us seems to change in the moment. Trust the process, because it’s God’s.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

This has been one of the biggest things I’ve come to learn from my first year of being on staff for the youth group. Initially, I felt like I wasn’t effective enough or mature enough to be able to lead my small group, since discussion times often consisted of one sentence answers and me trying to fill in as much of the awkward silence as possible. However, God has been gracious in using the messages to get them thinking more which manifests in what they share. I’ve learned to continue being faithful in guiding them in their understanding of the gospel week in and week out.

It reminded me of myself as a youth. Growing up, I attended youth group every Friday from 7th to 12th grade. We regularly learned about God and the Gospel through messages as well as small group with the staff members at my church. However, I wasn’t saved until late in high school. Even though it took years for me to become a Christian, my salvation would not have been possible without the willingness of the staff that walked alongside me the whole time. Similarly, it is my desire to walk alongside the youth in this way, and I’m just getting started!