Developing Spiritual Maturity: Introduction
Remember Peter Pan, the boy who never wanted to grow up? His story touches the nostalgia buried deep within us that longs for the days when we were young and carefree. We dream of Never Land where time stands still and children never grow old, and we entertain the notion that if it were possible, we just might go there.
At the end of the story there is disagreement about Never Land. John, Michael, and Wendy decide to return home to London where they will become adults while Peter and the Lost Boys opt for Never Land and its perpetual childhood. Who made the right choice? What would you have chosen?
Life is not a fairytale. It is unnatural and unhealthy to stay in Never Land. Wendy and her brothers were right. Children should mature into adults.
Of course we are supposed to hang onto some aspects of childhood, like innocence, humility, wonder, and trust. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).
The less tasteful aspects of childhood must be left behind. Paul confronted the spiritually immature church at Corinth, saying,
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? (1 Cor. 3:1-3)
Also, the writer of the book of Hebrews expressed his frustrations with his readers who were stuck in elementary principles, unable to dig more deeply into God’s revealed things:
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Heb. 5:12-14)
Jesus encouraged childlikeness, but he never condoned childishness.
This quarter’s open home discussion series is designed to help the participants develop spiritual maturity. There are four lessons, each one guiding us through important steps to take toward personal growth. Let’s challenge ourselves to grow up in every way into Christ (Eph. 4:15).
