Skip to main content

Work In Progress

             To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Colossian 1:27-28)

             But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

             As I read the first passage above (the verse of the day on Biblegateway.com) the phrase that stuck out to me was “mature in Christ.” Maturity is our goal – and we recognize this when we’re kids. Kids can’t wait to grow up so they can do all those exciting things that grown-ups can do; most of which turn out to be less attractive than we anticipated. Once we can do them, we want to grow up to the point when we can retire and become freer – like children again. When we get there, we discover that our bodies and purses have failed us again.

            Part of the problem is likely to be that we have failed to understand what maturity is. We like to think of it as freedom and power over our world, but Paul describes it as wisdom and as doing precisely what Adam and Eve were promised by the serpent – to be like the Most High, knowing good and evil.

            This suggests that maturity is not only about what we can do, but about how we choose to do it. Adam and Eve wanted to take a short cut, to be granted maturity by eating fruit instead of by living life. They wanted it without God, on their own terms. Sound familiar? And it’s a consequence of our claiming the rewards of maturity without having earned them that most of our life challenges arise.

            But to flip this to the other side of the coin, because while we want to be granted the rights of the mature, we also want to reject the responsibilities. We don’t want to eat responsibility, give up bad habits, control our tongues or our tempers, etc. Yes, we want to be mature, when we feel like being mature or when it will benefit us, but most of the time – immaturity pays the salary we want, we think.

            Maturity requires practice and training and doesn’t end when we think it does. A child hasn’t learned to walk when she’s taken her first two steps. It takes years of practice, and when you hurt your leg, foot, or back you may have to learn to walk again. And even after years of practice, you can faceplant while walking and have to get you teeth fixed.  Maturity is always a work in progress.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more