Maturity

 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, (Hebrews 6:1)

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)

After my father died, I started trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. I’m still trying to figure that out. Decisions that others had forced on them by necessity much earlier in their lives, I get to make, or make again. You might call it a midlife crisis, though I’m a little older than mot people consider middle-aged. I’m supposed to already be mature, but “mature” is another of those words that describe something one can’t put on a table. I don’t have a lit of what maturity is that I can check off. “Yep, got that. Nope, haven’t done that, etc.”

The Bible gives a couple clues on maturity. First off, it’s not repeatedly laying down a foundation. This is what I seem to want to do. Let anything disrupt my life and I want to go back to the beginning. Every time I move, it seems to mean that I have to start my life over, “Hi, my name is Karen Keil…”

The second passage mentions an even better picture of maturity. We’re to be conformed to the image of Christ. That doesn’t seem to mean that we all have to become itinerant preachers, but that we do what He would do if He were in our place. That, of course, brings to mind the story of a town that asked “What would Jesus do?” as part of their decision-making process. It’s a good question, but there is a better question.

When we ask ourselves “What would Jesus do?” our answer will depend on our perspective. Some people think of Jesus as meek and mild-mannered. He’d never hurt a fly, but he cleared the temple with a whip and overturned the tables. Some people think of Jesus as the mighty Messiah who is going to show up and lay down the law with a rod of iron but He said to let the children come to Him. Every time we think we have Him figured out, we’re wrong.

Being conformed to the image of Christ isn’t really about our doing what He would do, or at least not only about that. It’s also about being who He would be. And it’s a process. I find myself back at the idea that maturity has a lot of “not yet,” when I’m trying to hurry up. In fact, I find myself wondering whether there’s another phrase that follows those. “Hurry up! Not yet! Enjoy Me.”  Its terribly hard to conform to the image of Christ when we’re busy trying to conform to the image of Christ. Instead, we are caused to conform to His image as we gaze at Him, spend time with Him, converse with Him, trust in Him.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t things we should be or do – but when we start hearing “Hurry up!” we should probably start God-gazing.