"Recently, I’ve been learning so much about growth and the time that true transformation takes. I was reading in Mark 4 today, where Jesus is telling a parable about the growth of seeds, what soil and environments they flourish in and which ones they don’t. In verse 4 Jesus says, 'other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.' The seed that immediately sprang up didn’t last long, and since it didn’t have any depth it withered away.
We already live in a world that prioritizes quickness and efficiency, and when you throw in social media, it becomes extremely exasperated. All you have to do is login to any social media platform to see the accomplishments of others, and upon first glance it can appear as if their accomplishments didn’t take time or hard work, because all you’re seeing is the end result. There are many beautiful things that can come from seeing other’s accomplishments, but we have to be careful that we don’t jump to the conclusion that because all we see is the end result, true growth and transformation comes quickly or easily.
Quite the opposite, we see in Mark 4 that the Biblical definition of growth or success comes through time– comes through the pruning and waiting. We see that God cares deeply about the transformation of our souls, our entire selves, and that doesn’t come immediately or else it wouldn’t be true transformation, but rather simply another transaction. This is true of God in every aspect, and I believe it is especially shown in God’s Kingdom. The 'already not yet' is the perfect example of this; the Kingdom reality that is already here but has yet to be completely realized and won’t be until Jesus comes back. Until we get to heaven we will never know why God doesn’t come right now and bring peace, equality, and justice to our world, but we can tell that this points to an important character of God’s heart, which is that God thinks waiting on things is important, that God is not a God of the quick and easy answer but rather true transformation of our hearts and true transformation of the world.
It reminds me of my favorite MLK quote, which says that, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” The hope and surety of God’s promise of justice in that quote always astounds me. When Martin Luther opened his eyes during the civil rights era, I can imagine that things did not always look like they were bending towards justice, but he trusted that God’s Kingdom was an everlasting one, and one that was always pushing towards Heaven. When I look at my own life, the greatest times of transformation have been long and even difficult at times, but those are the ones that have always resulted in the greatest change, the most long-lasting shifts of my heart.
Today, as we go about our days, may we be reminded that we serve a God who is not limited by time, who does not settle for giving us quick and easy, but always gives us true redemption, true beauty, and true transformation." -Jewels Tauzin
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