Applying a Choice over Time

Time is often overlooked, assumed, taken for granted.  Flavors intensify when you reduce liquid in a recipe, but cooks won’t do it.  It takes time.  Most cuts on lumber need to be precise, but many carpenters will make an error in those cuts.  Measuring twice takes time.  Most diet ads show before and after pictures that give the illusion of great speed, but the actual weight loss is incremental and invisible.  It’s accomplished over time.  Most Americans over 40 have not prepared financially for retirement.  They have a few thousand dollars and no real plan for changing.  Growing a fund takes time.

We seem oblivious to the need for steady choices over time.  We want the quick fix, the short cut, the immediate gratification, but most important things require T I M E.  I remember hearing a friend’s observation when I was in my late 20’s:  “The most important money you save is what you save right now because it has the most time to grow.”  I heard it enough to believe it, despite our cultural bent.

So, here’s my question:  how would God mature your heart if you would only make a small choice consistently over time?  When I think about the greatest impacts on my walk with Christ, it’s the weekly groups that invested every week over years.  It’s the 15 minutes of reading the scripture with an open heart over weeks of time.  It’s the singing of songs that took root deep in my mind so that their phrases began to become my responses to stress and crisis.

And even with Jesus, it was the disciples 3-year long journey of walking with Jesus every day that prepared them for the extraordinary Spirit who would work so powerfully in their ordinary lives.

A lot of time has elapsed since then.  20 centuries later, that “time with Jesus” is paying off for OUR sakes.

So, what choice do you need to make consistently over time?