The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon

“When he began his ministry, Jesus himself was about thirty years old.”

—Luke 3:23

Don’t you wonder if Mary and the others who knew Jesus was the Messiah were puzzled by the fact he hadn’t yet begun doing things they assumed the Messiah would do?

If we haven’t hit certain milestones or accomplished something notable by thirty, society often makes us feel we’re behind, failing, and running out of time.

But God’s timing is always perfect, and he’s in charge of every season of our lives (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Psalm 31:15).

His greatest purposes for us are that we become like him (2 Corinthians 5:17), exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), love him and love others (Matthew 22:36–40; 1 Corinthians 13), and make disciples, teaching them to follow him (Matthew 28:19–29).

Those things may not look like visible accomplishments in this world, and even if they do, it may not come for many years.

Many of the great heroes of the Bible had long seasons of waiting when they must’ve felt they weren’t doing anything significant. Moses tended sheep in the desert for forty years; Joseph was in slavery and prison for thirteen years; and Abraham and Sarah waited about twenty–five years for their promised son.

If three years of public ministry was enough for Jesus’s great purpose to be accomplished, there’s no reason we should expect to have forty or fifty years of prominent, public, continual success, even in the good works he’s prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

Often, there is some work he needs to do in us or in the world before the time is right.

But when we’re following him, we can trust that he will bring his great purpose to fruition in our lives (Philippians 1:6).

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