It Takes Years to Grow

Take a look at your body right now.

Unless you’re really young, you probably see signs of decay. Our bodies start the process of aging and decline at a cellular level well before we notice any significant changes.

Generally, this process begins in our late 20s to early 30s. During this time, the body's ability to repair and regenerate cells starts to decrease gradually. The rate of decline differs based on genetics, lifestyle, and overall health, but it impacts everyone.

Eventually, your skin will change. Your hair may thin or turn gray, or it may even fall out. Your muscle mass and strength will decrease. Your vision and hearing will decline. You will experience cognitive changes and more.

As the saying goes, “Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.” It’s inevitable.

You will not only experience physical decline. Arthur Brooks writes about other kinds of decline that will take place:

Unless you follow the James Dean formula — “Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse”—you know that your professional, physical, and mental decline is inevitable. You probably just think it’s a long, long way off….
…in practically every high-skill profession, decline sets in sometime between one’s late thirties and early fifties.

That is the downside. But there’s a positive side too. Paul writes: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). As George Guthrie puts it, “The outward appearance of deterioration also masks a vibrant, spiritual, internal renewal taking place.”

We think transformation will be quick, and sometimes it is. But generally speaking, God isn’t in a rush. There’s a certain kind of holiness and beauty that develops only after decades of walking with God. You can't microwave it. But when you see it, it’s a beautiful thing.

We should cherish our elderly saints. Most of my spiritual heroes are saints who are in their older years. I think of a 99-year-old woman. She was one of the godliest people I knew when I met her in her late sixties, and she’s even better now. In a world that elevates youth, our churches should be known for honoring the aged and learning everything we can from them.

It also means that we should aim, with God’s help, to become old, godly saints if God allows us to live that long. Godliness is not simply a function of age. I know old, brittle seniors too. Ask God to change you. Practice the ordinary means of grace. Suffer well. Repent often. Make it your life’s goal to grow godlier the older you get.

And then wait patiently. Humble yourself: God still has lots of work to do in your life. You’re still early in the process. But hope in your God: he is very good at doing his work of transformation, even if it seems slow.

It takes years to grow into holiness, but the results are beautiful, and God is faithful to complete that work as we depend on him.