| Right maturity takes right living. Many Christians avoid the truth of who they are by piling on worldly beliefs and clinging onto them. However; the mature Christian, in their lifelong pursuit of Holiness, comes to see all their ways as “filthy rags” compared to Christ. Right living is about not being deceived into a false sense of being, but putting the right things in place built on God’s Way.
Spiritual maturity is love. Many Christians idea of love is to love only to receive love. “I need you to love me so I can love you back” mentality. This is immaturity! To truly be mature means to love as God loves – unconditionally. The mature person loves because love increases their damaged sense of self and relationships both with God and others. The mature person doesn’t love to be pleased by another, but to surge God’s love forward.
True maturity is about doing good. So many Christians do “good” out of pity – meaning, they feel sorry for a person, charity, or organization in their depressed state, or they do “good” out of sense of duty because it makes them “feel” good. If you are doing “good” for any other reason than how God defines it, then you are fulfilling the desires of the flesh. We do good to be rich in God’s work (1 Timothy 6:17-19). Anything outside of God’s goodness is completely destructive and juvenile. To do good, our motivation must come from a place of inner harmony that only comes from Christ.
Wrapping things up, know, to be mature we must think like God, and allow the evils of this world to be the immaturity of our thoughts. Rather than the turmoil of this world conditioning your mind, allow your thoughts to be transformed by the mind of Christ so we can be the Lord’s presence and ministry in the world. |
