Some wag might joke about “What’s the big deal about maturity; just give it a little more time and it will happen, ready or not.” But today we are going in search of meaningful and satisfying maturity. How would you define that?
We’ve all met folks who seem self-assured, confident, satisfied, and seemingly content, instead of scrambling to “find themselves,” unsure, insecure, worried, unsettled, or easily upset. The former folks appear to have found some secrets that others have yet to discover.
Who do you know that appears to be on to some secrets that make them attractively stand out from the crowd? This question could easily trigger an individualized list of our own heroes, with characteristics like courage, poise, selflessness, confidence, humility, initiative, and responsibility. Courageous war heroes (who risked or sacrificed their lives for others), and “handicapped” people like Helen Keller who used her abilities to put us “normals” to shame, come to my mind, along with the “first responders” in NYC who ran UP the twin towers while everyone else was running down.
As usual, we are now going to tune into God’s perspective on this important topic. For starters, He wants all people to establish a personal and intimate love relationship with Him. To do that and be allowed into His holy presence, we must choose to begin by personally accepting the payment for all our sins that Jesus made on the cross. Then we learn that He has a master plan for these folks to “be conformed to the image of Christ.” This has supporting Bible passages for our past, present, and future, and His basic method to experience such maturity is to “speak the truth in love.” His maturity balances truth and love, since only one without the other is a terrible disaster.
In this path to God’s plan for our maturity, we are asked to focus our new spiritual eyes on Jesus, and away from a preoccupation with the negative circumstances and tests that often surround all of us. Jesus is the answer, and our focus on Him will allow us to discover and apply for ourselves, many of the ways He spoke truth, mixed with love feelings and resultant healing actions.
Jesus illustrates the uniqueness of this maturity by stating in John 14:6, “I am the way, the life, and the truth. No man comes to the Father, except through me.” He also promises, “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Let me ask you, “Do you know anyone more mature than Jesus?” If not, why delay. Today is your best time to accept His payment for all your sins, and to begin your journey as clay in the potter’s hands, to become more and more Christ-like. As Max Lucado says, “Jesus loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way! He wants you to become Just Like Jesus.”