By Russell F. Metcalfe, Jr. - Pastor, Atwater,Ohio
November 29, 1961
ONE of the most thrilling sights imaginable is to see, by the magic of time exposure and color motion pictures, the unfolding of a beautiful flower from swelling bud to radiant blossom, the growth of months in the short space of a few seconds. With breath-taking beauty the wonder of God's creation is focused in the development of a single flower.
A similar unfolding is revealed with slow-motion clarity as I look over the old date books and memoranda of my first five short years in the ministry. Here are facts that trace growth and development and change that were all but imperceptible at the time.
But whether the facts for an individual or family reveal growth and blessing or withering and disappointment, there is one important factor that stands out to me in the perspective of several years of records. That factor is the single undramatic element of faithfulness.
Here are two young people. One has rapidly become a source of blessing and encouragement to the whole church because of his rapid advance in the things of God. If the present pattern continues, he will be a great influence for God beyond the walls of the church, and perhaps even beyond the local community. And not incidentally, this young person has made it a habit never to miss the regular services of the church. He can be counted on to pray for seekers- he is ready to do his best when special responsibilities arise-he regularly fasts and prays. In a word, he has learned the secret of faithfulness, and over the weeks and months a breath-taking miracle has unfolded. A blossoming has taken place to put the rose to shame!
What of the other young person? He was saved about the same time, and with about the same immediate results. He was happy in salvation and evidenced a changed life. But he soon found it easier to be casual about his Christian responsibilities and means of grace. Legitimate but secondary matters were permitted to crowd out prayer meetings and devotions. A weary body was too often permitted ascendancy over a hungry soul. Soon pleasures came ahead of God and the church. And as a result, the pattern of the past few months reveals tragedy in· the making. The difference: faithfulness.
Here are two families with teen-agers. One of these families seems to be weathering the storm that always seems to arise when young people begin to find themselves. Even though many children leave the church during this awkward period, this family seems to remain intact. It attends prayer meeting and revival services as a unit. And while the young people are somewhat up and down in their experiences, and are somewhat "chronic" in seeking, they are not rebellious, and indications are that they will soon get established without any break with the church.
But this did not just happen. Records show that this family has been bringing the young people to these regular services across the years. It never has been a matter of convenience; it has been a pattern of faithfulness. And it has proved, and is proving, the difference between salvation and damnation for those young people.
What of the other family with teenagers? Here is heart-sickness and desperation. The young people are asserting themselves, and their self-assertion is away from God and the church. Frantic praying and desperate heart burdens do not seem to make an immediate impact on these precious young people. The outlook, projected from the present trend, is not good.
And right here at the heart of the matter is the fact that this family has made faithfulness a matter of convenience. The children were not often in the Sunday evening service, the prayer meetings, or the revival services- and now it is too late to do the work of lost years. The testimony of such families often is, "Saved and sanctified!" but the practical results are less assured and less impressive.
The Christian life is one of development and change. We are not the same individuals we were a year ago. Imperceptibly we are each unfolding a story of a life in which high days and low days will largely cancel out and be forgotten. But if we see a miracle on the day when our development is flashed on the great screen of judgment, it will be because of our basic attitudes toward faithfulness.
Prayer meetings, punctuality, plodding, and praying may not seem as glamorous as other, more spectacular service. But over the years this kind of faithfulness produces the greatest miracle of all, a Christ-like character, and a fruitful life.