What can a five-year old do that a four year-old can't do?
At my sons birthday party, I asked him “what can a five year-old do that a four year-old can’t do?” I love this question and I ask it a lot to different kids when they’re proud of their new age. That day I learned, “five year olds can do the monkey bars”. I turned my head and started doing something else and a just a few beats later I hear him screaming at the top of his lungs. Little did I know that Jude promptly ran to the swing set in the backyard and jumped up to the top of the monkey bars and got after it.
Except he can’t. He can’t do the monkey bars, even though he turned five years old. I think he’s right, probably in the next twelve months he’ll learn that skill but for now, its not as if a light switch is simply turned on and the moment he turns five he wakes up with this new ability. Instead, it will be a recipe of many failed attempts, some gross motor development, bravery, and stronger muscles. We will EARN every inch of that skill in year five.
Following God doesn’t change everything in a snap either. The leader of the first Christian church said it this way, …
We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
That sounds like a lot of long hard nights. It takes work. Failures. Advice. Falling flat on your face in humility. Tears. Guys, it’s going to be a process. But that process is what we call the life of faith. That’s what it means to take the plunge. We do the best we can today with what we know and we keep learning, growing, stretching our character to become people who communicate, in all we do, the hope of God.