Yes, you noticed a part 1 in the heading of this post, as I intend that it will cover several posts. So keep tuned in, just in case I don't think through something today that you may be thinking. It's likely that it will come up in a future post on this topic.
The topic of Christian maturity is one that I pay great attention to. In fact, it often dominates my reading, as some of the recent titles of books that I have read include "Intergenerational Christian Formation", "Reframing Spiritual Formation", and "Intergenerational Religious Education." Each of these deal with the growth of the Christian in their faith, the lives, and their faith lives in particular.
As one who is tasked to proclaim Christ Jesus and see faith in Him growing within those who hear, I have a great deal of interest in such growth. Another way that the Scriptures paint it is of a growing maturity. In other words, it isn't merely head knowledge. We can "know" lots of things about the Bible, about God, and about Jesus, but knowledge alone doesn't ensure maturity. We have all known people that could win practically any trivia contest, but are woefully inadequate in dealing with the circumstances life throws our way. And yet, the primary models of faith formation we have focus primarily on knowledge acquisition.
So part of what we are going to have to figure out is what maturity actually looks like. Yes, there is going to be an important component of knowledge in that. You have to know in order to grow into something. It also includes a willingness to actually do and practice the things you learn. For example, we can know that Jesus forgives us through the cross, and yet, we can be very immature when it comes to forgiving others in our lives. A willingness to forgive indicates a deeper maturity. And then, as we see Jesus forgiving even those who ultimately reject His gift of forgiveness, we see an even deeper maturity when we practice forgiveness toward those who will reject our gift, and will, in fact, continue to live defiantly contrary to what we might hope and expect.
Maturity also includes a willingness to sacrifice. Again, an example may help best illustrate this. We can know that our God says that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Paul even goes so far as to say that we should consider others as better than ourselves, and seek to serve their needs ahead of our own. Jesus Himself would say that He didn't come to be served, but to serve. We may intellectually agree with this, but growing in maturity means that we start to look to the good of others, even if it involves sacrifice for ourselves. And then, even greater maturity means that we look to the good of others, even if they do not look favorably upon us, and in fact, actually work against what we believe and stand for. Jesus Himself would say that it really isn't all that much if we only sacrifice for those who we get along with. Even the sinners and tax collectors do that. To have a willingness to sacrifice, even for those who may hold such sacrifice against us, is a sign of a greater maturity.
One other thing, and then I will wrap up for today. Maturity is not a straight-forward process. There are steps forward, and there are moments where we backslide. In that same way, just because we get older doesn't mean we get more mature. I have known very mature young people, and I have known immature older people, when it comes to faith matters. In addition, we may be very mature in some areas, and woefully immature in other areas.
Paul would write that he could not give his readers solid food, but instead focused on giving them milk, because they weren't ready for the solid food of some deeper teachings and practices. Over the next few posts, we will further examine what that might mean, and eventually, start looking at what growth in maturity may look like for us as Christians.
The topic of Christian maturity is one that I pay great attention to. In fact, it often dominates my reading, as some of the recent titles of books that I have read include "Intergenerational Christian Formation", "Reframing Spiritual Formation", and "Intergenerational Religious Education." Each of these deal with the growth of the Christian in their faith, the lives, and their faith lives in particular.
As one who is tasked to proclaim Christ Jesus and see faith in Him growing within those who hear, I have a great deal of interest in such growth. Another way that the Scriptures paint it is of a growing maturity. In other words, it isn't merely head knowledge. We can "know" lots of things about the Bible, about God, and about Jesus, but knowledge alone doesn't ensure maturity. We have all known people that could win practically any trivia contest, but are woefully inadequate in dealing with the circumstances life throws our way. And yet, the primary models of faith formation we have focus primarily on knowledge acquisition.
So part of what we are going to have to figure out is what maturity actually looks like. Yes, there is going to be an important component of knowledge in that. You have to know in order to grow into something. It also includes a willingness to actually do and practice the things you learn. For example, we can know that Jesus forgives us through the cross, and yet, we can be very immature when it comes to forgiving others in our lives. A willingness to forgive indicates a deeper maturity. And then, as we see Jesus forgiving even those who ultimately reject His gift of forgiveness, we see an even deeper maturity when we practice forgiveness toward those who will reject our gift, and will, in fact, continue to live defiantly contrary to what we might hope and expect.
Maturity also includes a willingness to sacrifice. Again, an example may help best illustrate this. We can know that our God says that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Paul even goes so far as to say that we should consider others as better than ourselves, and seek to serve their needs ahead of our own. Jesus Himself would say that He didn't come to be served, but to serve. We may intellectually agree with this, but growing in maturity means that we start to look to the good of others, even if it involves sacrifice for ourselves. And then, even greater maturity means that we look to the good of others, even if they do not look favorably upon us, and in fact, actually work against what we believe and stand for. Jesus Himself would say that it really isn't all that much if we only sacrifice for those who we get along with. Even the sinners and tax collectors do that. To have a willingness to sacrifice, even for those who may hold such sacrifice against us, is a sign of a greater maturity.
One other thing, and then I will wrap up for today. Maturity is not a straight-forward process. There are steps forward, and there are moments where we backslide. In that same way, just because we get older doesn't mean we get more mature. I have known very mature young people, and I have known immature older people, when it comes to faith matters. In addition, we may be very mature in some areas, and woefully immature in other areas.
Paul would write that he could not give his readers solid food, but instead focused on giving them milk, because they weren't ready for the solid food of some deeper teachings and practices. Over the next few posts, we will further examine what that might mean, and eventually, start looking at what growth in maturity may look like for us as Christians.
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