Growing Up
“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.”
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”
“...until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…”
Growing up is hard, and yet we all do it. We learn, gain understanding, are stretched, and mature. Maturing is a process that’s for sure not always easy. I sometimes wonder what it was like for Adam and Eve to already be mature physically yet having not experienced real life and its challenges which would bring about a definite growth in both knowledge and wisdom. All things were new, but it would have been different for them. Every other human would have started in an immature state – physically, mentally, and sadly, spiritually dead. But Adam and Eve were in a unique position.
However, no matter who we are, whether Adam, Eve, or ourselves, we all still need to grow and mature. Paul, as he stated above in a couple of letters he wrote, tells us that this is important. In a culture that tells us to stay young, keep pursuing fun, put off the adult world as long as you can, (and when you’re old, do all you can to be recreated young again with “magical” products), the Bible reminds us that the natural state of life is to grow and embrace maturity.
Maturity is often thought of as the natural process of changing from a child to an adult, but it also means reaching the most advanced stage in a process. I think both were in Paul’s mind when he encouraged the Church to mature. He sees what naturally happens in life – that with time and experience, people are changed, and they can then live in more meaningful ways because of the depth of their growth. Paul wants us to live in the fullness of Christ.
This fullness or maturity in Christ only comes from spending time exercising our faith in God. We walk in this world, and every experience provides an opportunity for us to grow, to gain wisdom, and to be changed. We can know Christ in many areas of our lives if we take time to walk with Him in those areas. Paul reminds the Church, which includes all of us who know Jesus Christ personally as our Lord and Savior, that if we are not doing this, we will stunt our growth and stall our spiritual maturity.
Feeding the body good-tasting yet nutrient-lacking food, and failing to exercise, does us no good. It slows us down and can hurt the physical growth we would be experiencing if we ate well and were active. Spiritually, we need to feed our souls on the Word and exercise our faith in God if we are to mature and produce the fruit that comes with growing up.
Paul encourages us to put away the things that keep us from growing in Christ and to pursue “adulthood”. I encourage you to think this week about what that means for you. In what areas do you see a need for your growth? Where do you feel weakest? Where would you like to mature and thrive? What spiritual nutrients are you lacking? In what areas have you become strong enough so that you can help others in similar areas in their growth? In many ways, maturing means we are blessed by God's grace which helps us grow so that we can in turn be a blessing to others!
Let’s do what we can to encourage each other in our growth – and keep a diet rich in both the Word and the Spirit (as we ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand and apply the Word) – so that we can walk in the abundant life Jesus told us He came to offer us. (See John 10:10).
