The Farmer at the Mall Vault
IllustrationAnalogyStory★★★★DISCIPLESHIP is progress over time. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s like the farmer who went to the city for the first time. He saw a mall and had never seen a mall before.
He was with his son and his wife. He said, “I’ve got to see this place. I’ve never seen anything like it.” So, they went in and started wandering around.
Inside the mall was a bank. When they walked inside the bank, they saw the vault.
They didn’t quite know what it was because the farmer was used to saving his money in rudimentary ways. He would put it under his pillow or bury it in his backyard. They all stood there trying to figure out exactly what it was. At one point a little old lady walked inside the vault.
She was very old. She could barely walk and used a cane to move around. She walked shakily into the vault. About thirty seconds later, a beautiful, well-figured young lady comes out the vault.
The farmer saw the old lady go in, and a gorgeous young woman come out. He leaned over to his son and said, “Hurry up, and go get your mother.” He wanted an instant transformation. The farmer’s wife would not have been immediately transformed and neither will we be in our spiritual journey.
Transformation doesn’t happen immediately; however, we do have control over the speed at which the process takes place.
The point
A farmer watches an old woman enter a vault and a young woman exit, wanting instant transformation for his wife. Discipleship is progress over time, not overnight magic. Spiritual transformation requires process and patience.