Thursday 1 August 2013

Spiritual maturity (Part 1)

What does "spiritual maturity" mean? 

A look at Ephesians 4:11-14 from the NASB (emphasis mine): 

"11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming..."

Basically? To mature spiritually means to grow up spiritually. A spiritually mature person is no longer...

....a spiritual baby who needs to be fed with spiritual milk, burped, cleaned and pacified.... 
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... or a spiritual toddler who is learning to walk and talk... 
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... or a spiritual teenager on a journey to search for an identity ...
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...or one who is easily swayed by his impulses, worldly seductions and false teachers. 

A spiritually mature person is a picture of steadfastness... secure in his identity in Christ and grounded in God's Word... And yet, he never stops growing as a disciple of Christ. He never stops yearning for more of the fullness of Christ in his life. I want to be like that.

Today, I thank God for spiritual mentors who model spiritual maturity in life and doctrine, and yet the determination to always move forward - learning, understanding, theologising and repenting. 

2 comments:

adeline said...

I want to steal these 3 lessons on spiritual maturity. Great insights and I love how you presented it.

Grace Melody said...

Thanks for the encouragement, adeline!!