Time is not on your side

I think there was a song that went like this, "Time is on my side." That can be true is many instances, but not in the case of spiritual growth. Let me explain.

If you ever want a challenging read, go ahead and pick up something by A.W. Tozer. I don't know if I've ever walked away from digesting something he has written without being confronted and challenged to deepen my walk with God.

Let me give you one quote as an example that shows that time is, "not on our side."

He writes in "Rut, Rot or Revival," (great title): "Think about people who find themselves in religious ruts. They discover a number of things about themselves. They will find that they are getting older but not getting any holier. Time is their enemy, not their friend. The time they trusted and looked to is betraying them, for they often said to themselves, "The passing of time will help me. I know some good old saints, so as I get older I'll get holier and better. Time will help me, purify me and revive me." They said that the year before last, but they were not helped any last year. Time betrayed them. They were not any better last year than they had been the year before"

I don't automatically grow in my walk with God. It is something that takes effort on my part. Sure, I am to be totally dependent upon God. But God waits for me to pick up the ball and join the game.

Paul writes in Philippians 2:12 that we are to "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." God has a part, but so do I.

I just don't become a committed Christian any more than I become a car if I sit in a garage.

that's why the Christian disciplines are so important.

Read the Word, pray, share your faith, having times of solitude with God are invaluable tools in drawing closer to Him.