Things

When we see most things, they are already finished(e.g. car, house, things you buy in a store).  But if you work in manufacturing, you know that things have to be assembled before they become the end product.  And I suspect that most people, if they think about it, realize that things have to be assembled before they are presented to people to be bought.  However, most people probably do not think about what all went into the production process to arrive at the finished product.  We just see the end product.

People

People are kind of like things in this regard.  When a child is born, that child is complete in some respects, but in other matters that child still has a lot of growing to do, both physically and mentally.  A Christian is no different.

Christians

When a person becomes a Christian, he is born again(I Pet. 1:23), not physically, but spiritually(John 3:4-7).  This rebirth signifies a “starting over.”  We wipe the slate clean; our sins are forgiven.  But we are not the “end product” yet.  Instead the Bible refers to us as babes(I Cor. 3:1; Heb. 5:13; I Pet.2:2).  And just like a baby, we need to be fed things we can easily digest(i.e. the milk of the Word – Heb. 5:12).  And over the course of time, we should learn how to deal with more difficult aspects of the Bible(i.e. the meat of the Word – Heb. 5:14).  But even the mature Christian is not really the end product.

End/Finished Product?

Each individual Christian is an unfinished product, a work in progress.  Hopefully, we continue to learn and grow every year we are blessed to have in this life, and that means a few things.  First, we need to continue to grow.  We need to avoid complacency or stagnation.  Second, just like ourselves, other Christians are(or should be) growing.  Be careful not to be too judgmental of others, whether it would be their current state or their rate of growth.  Third, different people will progress or grow in their faith at different rates.  Fourth, each person has different abilities or gifts, so we will grow and serve in a variety of manners(I Cor. 12:12-27).  Lastly, each of us is in a different stage of our progress.  We were different a year ago; we will be different a year from now.

Conclusion

I am not a finished product.  You are not a finished product.  We need to grow, and we need to be patient.  Patient with ourselves.  Patient with others.  Let’s help one another grow.  And let’s look for others who can join us in our journey toward heaven . . . where we can finally be finished . . . perfected!