I grew up in a Chicago suburb that was bordered by corn fields. Seemingly endless expanses of land where they grow the sweetest corn you’ve ever tasted. In a sense, it is remarkable that this exists at all.
During planting season, a farmer will drive a tractor pulling a machine that plants seeds. Row after row of seeds are planted. You add water and sunlight and then suddenly a stalk appears with more than one ear in it. Root systems pulling in enough nutrients from soil to grow a single kernel into many.
What causes this to happen? Such a remarkable thing would surely require huge amounts of effort and expertise and cost.
But no.
It happens from ordinary things. Water. Soil. Sunlight.
One summer, I planted and grew corn. There wasn’t much of a harvest because I had failed to protect the corn from racoons. But corn still grew as a result of ordinary things taking place over time.
A farmer or a gardener does not balk at the ordinary work, but does it knowing that the results are remarkable. There are various tasks to be done. Clearing weeds, checking the pH of the soil, watering, putting up netting to keep out critters. None of these is remarkable, but over time, the results are.
A common point of conversation that I have had with people while doing pastoral counselling is that the ordinary things of the Christian life (Acts 2:42) do not feel like they are doing enough. One person spoke of wanting to keep going to church services and gatherings in order to maintain a “spiritual high”.
Now, it is good to spend time with God’s people but only when we rightly understand what is happening there. If you go to church gatherings expecting another ecstatic experience, you will leave more gatherings disappointed than satisfied. And then you’ll wonder whether your salvation is genuine. Trees don’t grow well if they experience a huge rush of growth followed by stagnation. Strong trees are grown over years.
Peter, James, and John didn’t spend the whole of their Christian life and ministry on the mountain at the Transfiguration. Instead, they grew day-by-day using the ordinary things provided by God for their good. God’s Word shows us that spiritual growth happens through ordinary means over the course of a lifetime.