Chapter Twenty-six:
If you are one who yearns to become a mature believer, God is
waiting to help you grow. As believers grow and mature in Christ, they will
become increasingly aware of the will of God, and the Spirit will be merging
the direction of their will with God's will.
Those who become mature gain wisdom, but not in the sense of
intellectual knowledge, but in the area of spiritual discernment. The ideal for the spiritually mature believer
is that they have one heart and one mind so closely attuned to God that he/she
knows what God wants done. This is
crucial if you want to grow and be guided by God in your life.
Sometimes, in the area of spiritual maturity we tend to think we
can lie back and let God's spirit automatically produce growth and maturity
within us, without any effort on our part.
While the Holy Spirit is indeed eager to help us grow and mature, we
must actively and constantly develop ourselves towards maturity. We
read in the first Chapter of the Book of James that the end result of our going
through trials and rough times produces perseverance and "let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and
complete, not lacking anything". Spiritual maturity is a process
and God will allow whatever it takes for us to achieve it. Also, since God has made each of us
different, how He has us reach maturity will be different.
Becoming spiritually mature takes much effort. The
sixteenth-century Reformer John Calvin makes this point well when he said:
"It is evident that man never attains to a true knowledge until he has
previously contemplated the face of God, and comes down after such
contemplation to look into himself. For
(such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and
wise, and holy until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice,
vileness, folly and impurity." It
is only then that we develop the unquenchable desire to grow up into all Christ
has for us and decide to leave our immature ways behind. So, what does
spiritual maturity look like?
As Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do." Therefore, if we want to grow and mature we
will have to be willing to change many things
about ourselves: the way we view the
world, the way we treat others, our outlook on life and our relationship with
God. If our goal is to be more mature,
then our goal is really to become like Christ, who exhibited and lived out
every fruit of the Spirit. I am not doing an extensive teaching on the
fruits of the Spirit here and can only touch on the depth of their meaning. You'll
discover that as you grow in the Lord, He will show you how to walk out different
aspects of each fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 tells us "But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no
law". These nine characteristics are the result of our allowing the Holy
Spirit to work in our lives and change us, and are a certain sign of spiritual
maturity when we can live them out. The first
fruit is love. We know that God is love and He desires that we love others and
we can do this by putting their interests ahead of our own, and helping them
without any hope of reward in return. We
also speak the truth in love to others. First John 4: 7-8 says, " Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever
does not love does not know God, because God is love." You can tell whether a person is spiritually mature by the love they show to
others.
The fruit of peace means that we not only feel
at peace on the inside, but that we endeavor to
be at peace with all men as much as we are able, and strive to bring
peace to difficult situations.
Forbearance is also known as patience.
This, I think, is one of the most challenging fruits for us to
develop. God wants us to learn to be
patient, not only with others but also with Him. We tend to become impatient when things don't
go the way we want, but He wants us to learn to be patient and wait upon Him
and His timing.
Kindness is also being gentle and considerate
of others. God knows it's easy to be
kind to those who are kind to us, but He wants us to learn to be kind to those
who are unkind to us. Luke 6:45 tells us
about goodness..." A good man brings good
things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil
things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the
heart is full of." Goodness is where we live a life of integrity and
compassion towards others. It's doing the right thing when no one is
looking.
The
fruit of faithfulness is believing regardless of circumstances, it's being a
person that God and others can count on.
Gentleness, also known as meekness, is how we treat others by showing them
tenderness, mercy, and understanding. It
is the opposite of harshness, frustration and passing judgment. Self-control is
having discipline over ourselves (our flesh) by being able to master our
emotions, our desires and impulses. They are to be used to serve God and His
plan for our lives, rather than serving ourselves and what we want to do.
Self-control is shown when we live a life of stability.
There are other characteristics that a mature Christian will
exhibit. They will, of course, have a strong relationship with God and will be
open to His showing them areas He wants them to change. When interacting with
other people, they will be compassionate, patient, understanding, and
respectful. They will have a desire to reach others for Christ and to share
what He has done for them. As First Peter 3:15 says, they know to "Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect."
A spiritually mature person will exercise wisdom in what they do
and in their dealings with others, as well
as in their thoughts, words, and actions. As First Corinthians 28-31 reminds
us, "God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that
are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human
being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are
in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is
written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” The mature person
remembers that his wisdom comes from the Lord and does not let himself become
prideful. They have also learned to use good judgment in whatever they do.
Being truly humble is another very important
characteristic. Being humble is the
opposite of prideful. Proverbs 11:2 says, " When pride comes,
then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." The character traits opposite to humility are
arrogance, conceit, and self-importance.
The more humble we are, the more the Lord can use us. However, it is not a trait we are born with,
it is a trait that must be developed within us by the Lord.
A mature believer has a strong desire to learn God's Word
and to incorporate it into their daily lives. They study the Word and apply it
to every situation that they encounter. He/she possesses stable,
unwavering faith in the Lord, and firmly believes in his or her spiritual
convictions, and what he or she has the capability to do.
Spiritual maturity is also shown when we understand that God's
commands are uncompromising and unchanging, regardless of social norms or
changes in tolerance for things once considered evil (Isaiah 5:20). You will become aware of the subtle pressures
that try to convince you to redefine what God has said in His Word. Do not allow yourselves to shape your
interpretation of Scripture to suit your own needs or desires or to go along
with what others say. If your desire is
for God's Word to be the one and only authority in your life, you must stand up
for it at all costs.
In the next teaching series, we will look into how fasting is a
very important way for you to grow more spiritually mature in your walk with
God.
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