Why you can’t have it all now …

Chances are, you have plenty of people who claim they could share some “wisdom” with you about your life. Whether what they have to share is truly wisdom — or even insightful! — is another matter altogether.

Jonathan Alexander had a new acquaintance offer some unsolicited insight, which turned out to be a helpful dose of wisdom for him …

I remember having lunch with John for the first time. John was on our elder leadership team, and I had just arrived as the new Pastor of Community Life. So John and I are at lunch having some light conversation, and he says this to me: “You won’t be really effective until you’re in your 40s.” Mind you, I had just turned 30. And when I left my 20s behind I remember thinking, “Finally, I’m 30 years old… now people will take me seriously.” And here I have John telling me I have 10 more years before I can even be effective.

I’ll confess, I wasn’t too pleased in the moment. But instead of getting up and walking out (and stiffing him with the bill), I listened to what he had to say. He began to explain, “When you’re in your 20s, you’re trying to figure out who you are, what your gifts are, and what you’re good at. Then when you hit your 30s, you know 4-5 things that you’re good at and you hone in on them. And then finally, when you hit your 40s you know the 1 or 2 things that you are great at and you maximize those through your 40s and 50s. Then in your mid to late 50s, in your 60s and beyond, you’re figuring out how to pass those things on to the next generation.”

The wisdom this elder shared with the young new pastor is something we often miss in scripture, which is this:

Life is lived in increments.

The Bible doesn’t say those words exactly, but it does actually state something similar …

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace,” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

There’s wisdom in those lines, but they flow so poetically we may miss the bluntness that life is lived in increments. Fortunately for us, we see demonstrated in the lives of characters in the Bible story how life is lived in increments. For example:

– Moses didn’t start out as the leader of Israel. Instead, he began life quite precariously floating down the Nile in a basket made of papyrus reeds that just happened to be plucked from the water by a servant after Pharoah’s daughter spotted it. Then he would go on to have the greatest education in all of Egypt as part of Pharoah’s household. You know the story of his exile from Egypt, for a new experience as a shepherd. He eventually would be called by God to lead His people out of captivity to the Promised Land. Moses lived his life in increments.

– So did Joseph. As a boy, he had a dream that his brothers would one day bow down to him, but it didn’t happen at the time. Instead, they sought to kill him, finally settling on selling him into slavery. Joseph would eventually rise to be the second most powerful man in all of Egypt, moving through life in increments.

– Even Jesus’ earthly life was lived in the increments of childhood, adulthood, and finally, to His earthly ministry that comprised just the last few years of His life. Jesus’ entire purpose for coming to the world He created was to die for sinners who inhabited it. But He didn’t start life on Earth as a Savior, He lived for more than 30 years incrementally moving toward complete fulfillment of God’s plan for His life.

– And take Paul, who rose to prominence as a religious leader as a man named Saul. He would eventually be confronted by Jesus, Himself, and become the great apostle we know him to be as Paul. Another life lived in increments.

None of these lives went from birth, or even young adulthood, to full maturity and accomplishment of all that God had for them to experience here. Each one lived life by increments, each increment adding insight and equipping for other increments to come.

The reason why you can’t have it all now is because like these examples, YOU live by increments. You have now, but now doesn’t last forever. There will be another increment to your life that will bring change, and you’ll continue to experience new increments until your days of this life are over.

Just like that 20-something pastor won’t be received the same way one in his 30’s, 40’s, or 50’s will be, each increment of your life is an opportunity to grow, develop, mature, refine, improve, so that you’re ready to advance to the next increment of life.

The problem with life being lived increments is that we often are far too impatient for living that way. We want to arrive now, and then live the rest of our lives at our best, most advanced increment.

Life doesn’t happen that way.

So be patient, and trust the process God puts in front of you.

Scotty