Maturity

Last Saturday my California family left Modesto and headed to Glendale, Arizona. They drove about 700 miles to drop their oldest son off at Arizona Christian University where he has a football scholarship. He will be playing football and getting his education over the next few years 700 miles away from home.

It was difficult for his parents and younger brother. They are an exceptionally close family, made more so with all the COVID restrictions in California over the last couple years.

Probably the toughest part of parenting is to work yourself out of a job. God gave us children to raise in the knowledge and admonition of the LORD. He did not give them to us to keep forever. Our job as parents is to raise our children with integrity and strength, to give them the tools they need to make good choices and decisions in order to become mature men and women of God. Our job is to help them grow in dependence upon God instead of dependence upon us so that they can fulfill God’s plan for their lives.

As it is in the natural, it is in the spiritual. We are reminded in the Scriptures that we all are to become mature men and women of God.

Hebrews 6:1: “Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity”

Colossians 1:9-10: “We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.”

2 Corinthians 13:11: “Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

Ephesians 4:13: “…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.”

 Growing up is not easy in the natural or the spiritual … but it is absolutely essential if we are to fulfill our God-given calling.

As I look back over 2020, I must acknowledge that much of my focus was on what was going on in my body, those autoimmune diseases that daily captured my attention so well. I must also admit that I did not grow spiritually as much as I would have liked, and that I did not give the attention needed to the ministry entrusted to me.

As I look at the old year and the new year in front of me, I know I must do things differently. One of the “let us” phrases in the book of Hebrews speaks of “going on to maturity.”

“Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”  [Hebrews 6:1-2 HCSB]

When we surrender our lives to Christ Jesus, we commit to becoming “conformed to His image.” [Romans 8:29]

In essence that means we commit to modeling Jesus to our world in both our words and our actions. Our responses to the circumstances and trials of life are to be the same as Jesus’ would be.  That means developing maturity.

Maturity does not just happen all by itself. It requires us to make a decision to pursue it, and then follow that decision with dedication. Dedication implies consistency, self-discipline, and perseverance. When our circumstances become difficult or demanding, it is not always easy to follow through on that decision.

And isn’t that exactly where we always fail with “New Year’s Resolutions” – easy to resolve, difficult to maintain the follow through.  But spiritual maturity is not the same as resolutions to eat right or spend less, it is far more important.  Becoming like Christ Jesus is essential if we are to fulfill our God-given purpose as children of God.

So “let us” not just resolve to but be firmly dedicated to “go on to maturity.”