2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and 1 Chronicles 12:32. Progress has become a rather tangled concept.
- History changes but progress is not automatic.
- Chicago celebrated world fair, called ‘a century of progress’, in 1933-1934.
- the Bible is sobering in its evaluation – Eccles.1:9. Things change – Judges 2:7, 10, 11-15; Ps.106:12-13. God is working his purpose out. But there is to be no ‘chronological snobbery’, to use C. S. Lewis’ term.
In 1784 Immanuel Kant saw history as ‘a steady and progressive though slow evolution of its original endowment.’
- God intends individual Christians to make progress.
- Phil.1:9-11; 1 Tim.4:15. Spurgeon dealt with six areas of ‘ministerial progress’: our mental acquirements; oratorical qualifications; moral qualities; spiritual qualifications; work; mission work.
There is no perfection on earth, but there is progress to be made in our lives.
- Phil.1:9-11; 1 Tim.4:15. Spurgeon dealt with six areas of ‘ministerial progress’: our mental acquirements; oratorical qualifications; moral qualities; spiritual qualifications; work; mission work.
- Life is more a spiritual pilgrimage than a progression.
- Rom.13:11-14. We do not know where we are exactly in the flow of history, but we know where we are heading. See 1 Peter 2:11-12; Heb.11:16; 13:14. Yes, there is a progress, but it is a pilgrim’s progress.
As God works His purpose out, we must work our purposes out.