Inch Worm

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

A couple of weeks back, I was in a house church near a dump in Guascaleeles, Honduras. The front area where the preacher and song leader stand is a 15 foot raised earthen porch, with a foundation of tractor tires. The rail of a porch is a 15' piece of rusted pipe that is anchored with rope between two large trees. To complete the aesthetics and reinforcement, a chicken coup serves as the base for one of the "tire foundations". Not OSHA approved I would say. The church has flourished since being planted less than a year ago, and about 100 or so folks show up to hear the Word of God. I absolutely love worshiping there as the humble praise of our Lord is very freely given by folks with absolutely nothing.

As I got ready to preach this particular Monday, I turned around to pray one last time for God to speak through me, and as I looked away from the crowd, something caught my attention. On that rusted old pipe between the two trees, there was a green inch worm. He was small though, more like a half inch worm. For the next 8 seconds or so, I was entranced by this tiny green worm ever so slowly making his way down the rusty pipe. I thought to myself, that inch worm is not ever going to make it to the other tree! Why in the world is he in the process? Well, after about an hour and a half the little worm who was seemingly going no where had made it all the way to the next tree.

After I finished preaching, God really impressed upon me the fact that His growth in me looks a whole lot like that inch worm. There are so many times when I hear a great teaching or follow God into some faith trial and I think: "Ok, we are making some warp speed headway with this sanctification deal now". But then God shows me that I have so far to go in my faith walk. Yes, God has done some truly huge things in my life and some very fast, but I believe that He is trying to show me the beauty of the voyage of life transformation itself. I have a definite destination that I will arrive at when He is ready for me to, and He has a plan for getting me there. I guess what I am trying to intimate is that I have tried to run ahead of His plans for me so many times that it is sickening. Most of those times I got frustrated with somebody else because my plans did not work out. I now see that I was not ready for the task I wanted to do, and God was slowly preparing me for what He was going to put in front of me.

Obviously God can move at any rate of speed he wants to in the sanctification process. I guess God has shown me His patience with me in that process, so that I will have some with other people. I pray that I can find a daily Joy in that "inching away" through life. That joy can only be found permanently in Jesus, as he is transforming us into His glory. What a wonderful destination that is : Christ.

So where are you in your sanctification? Confused? Mad? Off point?

Shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that we are even on it? I am....even if I am inching along.