...but God made it grow

I got a pretty unexpected phone call Thursday night.

Matt was a kid who came to our youth group at my old church in Virginia two years ago. He was a junior in high school and new to the church scene. It was easy to give Matt grace - he was genuinely ignorant of a lot of "church knowledge" we take for granted that kids have.

After I jumped coasts in 2005, Matt was one of a score of kids I lost contact with. Until last week. What happened to him is a testimony to the importance of time to spiritual growth, and a reminder that over and above our ministry efforts, no matter how noble or intensive, the one who makes things grow is God.

Matt came to us completely immersed in the world. He was not from a churched background and the combination of friendship that he found in our group and the fact that the message was radically different than anything he'd encountered kept him coming back. It didn't take him long to affiliate with us, and then to self-identify as a Christian. But Matt went the path that many teenage Christians do when confronted with the depth of their sin - he resolved to "try harder" for God. He became a disciplined striver, determined to be better. This is performance, not grace; denial, not repentance.

When I left Virginia he was still hanging on, wanting to be a Christian, but finding his will to be weak. I left genuinely uncertain what would happen between him and God. Frankly, too, there's a hubris that takes over once you get to know someone and understand their spiritual obstacles - a sense that you've done all you can and that "some people will just never change". Not that I'd given up on him, I just didn't see how or when the breakthrough might come; the deck was stacked against him. In a year he'd be off to college and his "Christian phase" would probably be over.

But what did happen was that Matt went off to college - away from the only Christian support network he had - and God showed up. At just the right time, Matt suddenly had the grace and love he'd wanted, but couldn't take hold of in high school - despite all of our best efforts. The Matt I talked to last week is a changed person. He has grown spiritually in a way he was striving after, but couldn't realize. He finally gets it.

What does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 3? "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." That's verse 6; verse 7 is the humbler: "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." I have long thought in ministry (and parenting is a form of ministry!) that a long-term perspective is the only one to have. Considering that God's timeline is eternal, "long term" means loooooong term. Now consider what's working against that reality. Ministries want results. Crusades count decisions. Many churches have adopted business models (not just business practices) to accomplish ministry to get things done now...bigger...better...with excellence.

And as parents - you want good grades (now), good behavior (now), on-target development (now), progress shown for the lessons or leagues you're investing in. In other words - are my kids doing well? Do they speak well, look well, act well, read well, add & subtract well? Results in the short-term are answered by gauging them. But the best way to predict long-term results is to gauge ourselves. If we believe God makes things grow, then the question we ought to direct inward is: how's the seed planting going? Have you prepped the soil? Are you tending diligently? Are you watering? Most importantly, are you patient enough for the results? Are you faithful?

2 Timothy 2:13 tells us that faithfulness is an unchangeable part of God's character. I am so faithless. Things don't happen on schedule and I fall apart. I start to doubt the calling. I question other people's motives. It's hard to be "just a seed planter" when you seldom, if ever, see them grow to fruition.

But it's our calling. We plant. We water. We wait. Sometimes we get to witness remarkable transformation in a person that you know could have only come from God. Then we wait some more. And maybe all the waiting serves the purpose of reminding us how central God is.