Under Construction

It is funny how a few blocks of construction can turn a five minute trip into a fifteen minute trip. Or how the Christmas season turns a quick stop by the mall into a stress-enducing, blood-pressure raising, challenge in self-restraint and patience. Well, I was on my way to a local bookstore a few minutes ago and I started thinging about this in relation to our spiritual journey with God.

Specifically, why is it that sometimes I grasp a Biblical concept so easily and act on the things that God is showing me rapidly, implimenting the change and sacrifice necessary as soon as the Holy Spirit pricks my heart through the word (the spiritual five minute trip to the new location). But then other times, things that seem like they should be just as easy to respond to find me struggling in a difficult journey of deliberation, compromise, or half-hearted attempts at obedience (the spiritual construction zone).

I guess the reality is that sometimes God pricks my heart through a particular passage of scripture that calls me to action. But it is only when I am on my way already that I discover some deeper things need to be dealt with in order for this journey to continue. "Under construction", "detour ahead", "no parking spots available". The reality is that God has not called us to a trip full of paved roads with all green lights. The scripture that comes to my mind is Romans 8:17, which says, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

There is no short-cut to going from "glory to glory" in our journey with Christ. It is a trip into the construction zone that causes us to place the journey above our own convenience. Sometimes things go quick and smooth. Sometimes the struggle between conviction and obedience takes longer. But it is on this journey where the spiritual "rubber hits the road", that we discover growth, victory, and purpose in life. One day we look back and realize we have been so occupied navigating the construction zone that we didn't even realize how far we have truly come!