Growth

My own growth as a follower of Jesus has been slow. At least that is how it seems to me.
There are those around me who talk of being “radically” saved. In a way, we all are (of the saved). God in his infinite Love reaches down and saves that which cannot save itself, giving life back to the dead.
But they speak of a rapid and profound growth after salvation. Quickly giving up minor vices and thanking The Lord for it. Which is all well and good, but I want to make a slightly impolite observation. Maybe then those vices were not all that deep to begin with.
The twelve (disciples, apostles) were a walking shrink’s office, in modernistic terms. They displayed all the human frailties both before and after the resurrection.
We are “being saved”. It is and yet it is not done. Modern English does not do justice to the Greek wording.
But my aim is not to tear those people down. But to say, look deeper. Sin permeated our bodies prior to our rescue. I just had an image of frozen tundra flash into my mind. Permafrost in the soil, barely enough nutrients to sustain life. Melting it isn’t enough. Adding nutrients isn’t enough. That soil would need major work to produce anything and even then it would be a miracle.
Fortunately, with God that’s something of a speciality.