Thursday, April 7, 2016

When I Was A Child - Understanding Spiritual Maturity

My Utmost For His Highest
 
He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. —Mark 9:9
 
“When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them. Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. […] We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don’t have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.[…] (some Christians) lives don’t add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrection life is formed and evident in you and in me?”  CHAMBERS
 
(1 Corinthians 13:11) “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”  Spiritual maturity is not necessarily connected to physical age, but the level of spiritual understanding.  If you see a 6 year old child sucking on a baby bottle, you would suspect that there is a developmental problem.  The child should have been weaned from the bottle, long ago.  In a similar way, there are many Christians who still crave milk and cannot eat meat.  (Hebrews 5:12-14) “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.  But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
 
Often times, I would tell a congregation that I wished I spiritual glasses that I could give them to wear.  Glasses that would allow them to see people’s spiritual maturity.  They would be surprised to see who was still sucking a spiritual bottle.  Actually you don’t need spiritual glasses, just spiritual discernment.  Watch how people live and relate to other Christians and to the world.  We shouldn’t judge immature Christians, but we should encourage them in the faith.  I am not suggesting that mature Christians are perfect … not till heaven … but just like your children watch you and copy what you do, you should be an example to less mature Christians.  Dr. Howard Hendricks, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, said everyone needs a Paul, Barnabus and Timothy in their lives.  A Paul to teach them, a Barnabus to keep them accountable in their walk of faith, and a Timothy in whose life they can build.  The thing is, I have to allow someone to teach me.  I must allow someone to hold me accountable.  And someone has to allow me to disciple them.  If there is not a willingness to grow spiritually, it won’t happen.  ELGIN
 
Charley Elgin

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