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SPIRITUAL MATURITY
by Nancy Myers
Spiritual maturity does not parallel physical maturity. Sometimes, however, it does parallel the wisdom of experience. I think also it is a spiritual gift.
Spiritual maturity is caring more about the things of God than you do about the things that please you.
Spiritual maturity is trusting God---and being confident of that trust because He has proven himself to you over and over again when you have trusted before.
Spiritual maturity is control over the ego that wants to take the credit and get the attention. No telling what we could accomplish for God if we did not care who got the credit.
Spiritual maturity is knowing you can talk to God anytime, anywhere as a friend, closer than a friend, without having to wait for a "set" time and a "set" prayer.
Spiritual maturity is reading the Word of God with a fresh eye every time and casting away previous conclusions.
In short, spiritual maturity is the continuing unfolding in your life of the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22.
Source: Nancy Myers, Clergy/Leaders' Mail List #516
Topics/Tags: Maturity; Fruits, spiritual
Maturity is the willingness to bear uncertainty and to carry within one's self unanswered questions.
— Elisabeth Elliot
Source: christianity.net
Topics/Tags: Maturity; Questions; Uncertainty; Trust
"Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters."
- Victor Hugo
Source: Victor Hugo
Topics/Tags: Adversity; Refining; Maturity; Prosperity
James Dobson, on the need for young adults to take responsibility for their lives:
"Remaining too long under the parents' roof is not unlike an unborn baby refusing to leave the womb. He has every reason to stay awhile. All his needs are met in that stress-free environment. But it would be crazy to stay beyond the nine months God intended. The baby can't grow and learn without leaving the security of that place. His development will be arrested until he enters the cold world and takes a few whacks on his behind. It is to everyone's advantage, and especially his mother's, that he slide on down the birth canal and get on with life.
"So it is in young adulthood. Until you cut the umbilical cord and begin providing for yourself, you will remain in a state of arrested development. . .
"The apostle Paul wrote, 'When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man I put childish ways behind me' (1 Corinthians 13:11)."
Source: Focus on the Family, 7/1999, p. 5.
Topics/Tags: Responsibility; Growth; Maturity; Young people
"You can be born a male, but it takes maturity to be a man."
-- Adrian Rogers
Source: Adrian Rogers
A man moved into a house whose former residents had included a number of children. On one of the posts of the back porch he found something very interesting. There were a series of lines drawn on the post, and opposite each line was a name and a date. It was obvious what had been done here. Every year on each child's birthday, the parents would put the child up against the post, draw a line, and put the name and year, to show how much the child had grown since the preceding year's birthday.
The man would later declare, "I looked at that post-- ABSOLUTE PROOF of physical growth-- and I asked myself, 'What if I stood up against the Lord's post and measured my SPIRITUAL growth year by year. What would it look like? Would my life have any absolute proof of spiritual growth?
"I went from the porch inside, got down on my knees, and prayed, 'O God, help me to grow.'"
Source: Edgar Arendall, "The Highest Point." In "Vital Sermons of the Day," Jan/Feb 1984.
A college class was graduating on a hot and humid day. As graduates walked across the outdoor platform and received their diplomas from the college president, he smiled, shook their hands, and said loudly, "Congratulations!" Then, in a much lower voice that could be heard only by the graduate, he'd say, "KEEP MOVING."
Now, the president was only trying to speed up the ceremony, but his words are good advice for a lifetime: "Keep moving." After every achievement-- growing up, graduating, getting married, getting promoted, even retiring-- the best advice is, "Keep moving! Don't stop. Don't stagnate. There is still MORE to life yet to be lived.!"
Source: "Sermon Illustrations for Holidays and Special Occasions"
Topics/Tags: Growth; Maturity; Achievements; Movement
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