Steady
Good Morning,
Bonsai trees are miniature trees that look like life-size trees, only they are tiny. I have even heard that some bear fruit — tiny, useless fruit. I do not understand much science, but, as a child, I had a magnifying glass and burned paper as I saw the light of the sun focused in one small place. It seems that drawing all the attention and light and squeezing it into a smaller than normal spot makes it powerful.
Missionary John Hyde could not seem to break through to the people of India. Years of labor brought about no interest or converts. He determined to fast and pray until he saw God do something, and after thirty days of prayer and fasting, people began to get saved. He spent most of those thirty days focused in prayer.
If you are training children, urge them not to bounce from one activity to another, but to get a job and stay until it is completed. If they pick up an instrument, persuade them not to quit until they can play.
If they start a sport, make them finish the season. If they join one of our clubs at church, have them see it through. Do not allow your teen to change bus routes without a very good reason. Steadfastness and consistency are characteristics we used to learn from fables like the rabbit and the hare, or the ant and the grasshopper.
Like dripping water wears away soap or even a stone, consistent living and working accomplish more than repeatedly changing focus. Small deposits of savings into an investment for thirty years will yield more than constantly looking for that big deal that will make you rich. As a rule, consistent living will yield a better product than change. Stay in your house for thirty years and you will own your home. If you are a pastor, stay at your church. Stay on your bus route or Sunday school class and you will see the walls of demonic resistance slowly weaken.
Making something good and successful is no overnight project. Consider the building projects of Solomon. Building the temple took seven years, and building his own house took thirteen years. He woke up each day and kept going.
1 Kings 6:38 “And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.”
1 Kings 7:1 “But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.”
According to the people in Jesus’ day, Herod rebuilt the ruined temple — it took forty-six years! (Any job takes much longer when it is being done by the government.)
John 2:20 “Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?”
Though Reuben was talented and gifted, he struggled because he was unstable.
Genesis 49:3 “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:”
vs. 4 “Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel…"
You need not be brilliant, but if you read your Bible daily, you will learn much. If you will develop a prayer life, even if only a short time, but a daily and consistent time, you will draw closer to God. As a married couple, it is better to have weekly dates than to run crazy all the time and once in a while have a big trip or do something expensive. Both would be fine, of course, but the point is to be steady!
Consistent time with your children is important. For me, I prepared the children’s breakfast each morning and read a chapter of the Bible. Then at bedtime, it was my time to play, work on a memory verse, and put them to bed. Each week, I took my pre-teen children out for an hour or more to go to a park or the store buying things that we needed. I only took one child with me on a certain day at a certain time every week.
Moving to chase the economy is usually more costly than helpful. When I was in college, I remember people moving to Texas for the good jobs. Soon, economic changes took place and the same families moved again. In American vocabulary, being considered a drifter is never a compliment.
James talks about being unstable:
James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
Peter mentions the danger of instability:
2 Peter 2:14 “...beguiling unstable souls…"
2 Peter 3:16 “… they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
Get life-long friends; give your children leaders who are there throughout their lives. Serve in a ministry so you have time to see the effects of your work decades later. Form close relationships with people who will keep you accountable spiritually. Be a steady soul winner; schedule your time week after week, year after year.
One major reason to not change or quit is the effect of how we touch the heart of those around us. The Israelites had traveled together for years, and then before entering the land of Canaan, several groups of people determined that they would stay on the east side of Jordan and not enter into the land. Moses said,
Numbers 32:7 “And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them?”
Moses said the ones who decided to stay would discourage their brethren. We must understand that our lives are bigger than we realize and that our words and actions touch those around us. A bus worker who leaves his route endangers the spirit of those who are still in the ministry. A Sunday school teacher who gives up his class will hurt the spirit of the children and other teachers. A person who acts while only considering himself is totally selfish and un-American. America was built upon self-sacrifice and faith. Living for others is the root of Christianity.
One of the great joys of my life is that I am getting old with the same friends I have had for decades. We are watching each others’ children and grandchildren start their own lives. We pray for one another and enjoy the stability of steadfast love. This stability cannot be gained through changes in life that move us around like a ping-pong ball in a wind storm.
Pastor