Back to Home Page | Back to Index
|
Grow in Life
【Maturity】As a Christian,
you have everything you need to be what you ought to be. Spiritual maturity is
not a process of gaining things that you did not have when you became a
believer.
For
example, consider a newborn baby. It isn’t born without arms, and then gets
them later. It’s not a pollywog. It doesn’t develop into a frog. When a baby is
born, it has all the physical equipment it will ever have. In fact, the older
we get, the more stuff we lose!
When
you were born in Christ, you were made spiritually whole and have all you will
ever need to become mature. It’s only a matter of development until you
function in a mature way. You have everything you need-there is no lack, you
are complete in the Lord.
However,
a Christian can arrest his development and even permanently damage himself by
sinning. As damaging as sin is, we must acknowledge that we sin, not because we
lack anything, but because we do not appropriate what we have.
【Maturity】Not, how did he
die?
But,
how did he live?
Not,
what did he gain?
But,
what did he give?
These
are the merits
To
measure the worth
Of
a man as a man,
Regardless
of birth.
Not,
what was his station?
But,
had he a heart?
And
how did he play
His
God-given part?
【Maturity】Many believers
have difficulty in realizing and facing up to the fact that sometimes God uses
time in his development of our Christian life. This truth is brought home by
the following story.
One
day in the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Disraeli made a brilliant
speech on the spur of the moment. That night a friend said to him, “I must tell
you how much I enjoyed your extemporaneous talk. It’s been on my mind all day.”
“Madam,” confessed Disraeli, “that extemporaneous talk has been on my mind for
twenty years!”
【Maturity】Kipling once
offered the following tests for maturity. “If you can keep your head when all
about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, it you can trust yourself
when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too, if you can wait
and not be tired by waiting, or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, or,
being hated, don’t give way to hating…”
【Spiritual Growth】One night, a
mother fixed a special meal for her family: turkey with mashed potatoes and
gravy, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, and apple pie for dessert. It was
everyone’s favorite meal, especially when it came at a time other than
Thanksgiving. The aroma filled the house, and as the children came in from
playing they could hardly wait for dinner to begin. The last child appeared
only a few minutes before dinner time and sat through the meal without eating,
even though he especially loved those foods. Why? Because he had filled up on
peanut butter at a friend’s house. In settling for something good, he had lost
his appetite for the best.
The
same applies to our spiritual appetites. Some people don’t have much of an
appetite for spiritual truth because they have satisfied themselves with lesser
things.
【Evidence of Spiritual Growth】We have all been
driving down a highway and noticed bright orange signs that state, “BEGIN
CONSTRUCTION” and “END CONSTRUCTION”. One thing about these signs is that they
tend to remain around long after the construction work is over.
If
one of us were to announce that-for the time being-God’s construction in our
lives was going to be halted, would our friends say, “I didn’t know any
construction was going on”?
【Source of Spiritual Growth】Some years ago, a
study was done by an agricultural school in Iowa. It reported that production
of a hundred bushels of corn from one acre of land required
So
it is in spiritual realms: God causes the growth (1 Cor. 3:6~7).
【Source of Spiritual Growth】When James
Garfield, later to become President of the United States, was principal of
Hiram College in Ohio, one father asked him if the course of his studies could
not be shortened so that his son might be able to complete his studies in less
time. “Certainly,”