If you've been on our campus recently, you've seen it go up before our very eyes: the new chapel building, which will grow our capacity to do ministry both on the weekends and during the week. Many people, myself included, have expressed amazement at how quickly it seems to be coming together: first the floor, then the walls, already a roof - and it's becoming easier to imagine what this place will actually look like.At the same time, they (and I) have been amazed when they hear that the targeted completion date isn't until late March. At the rate they're going, it seems it should be done by Christmas! But it won't be. Once the walls get enclosed, the detail work inside begins.
And that's how the new chapel reminds me of spiritual growth:- Spiritual growth is a long-term process.
- When we're born, we grow rapidly - sometimes so rapidly, that people assume we're more mature than we are. But the real mark of maturity is what's contained on the inside.
- Spiritual development is careful work that should not be done haphazardly...or you'll do a lot of work later undoing damage caused by bad construction.
- We often wonder, "What's going on inside?", and we'd give anything to be given a sneak peak.
- ...And, just as with a building under construction, sometimes you are allowed a sneak peak by the owner, if you ask nicely and are careful not to interfere with what's already in progress.
- There's no exact blueprint for spiritual growth.
- Unlike a building, we're never "done", but always in process, becoming more like our Creator.
- But also unlike a building, we're not unable to be used as we go through the process of development. Kids aren't "junior believers" who need to reach a certain age before we can consider them real Christians.
