| “I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.” |
| —Proverbs 4:10b |
The subject of “maturity” looms large in all matters we face in life today. This is especially true in our narcissistic, self-centered, sin-filled, decadent culture. More and more, Conservative scholars have begun to question whether or not our society has made the subject of maturity an anathema.
Just the other day, I came across a paper I wrote during my time at Houghton College back in 1967. This particular paper came to mind because I have recently considered some of the problems that face the Evangelical church in the United States. After quite a bit of analysis, I have once again concluded that one of the problems foisted on the church by societal norms is that the people in the pews seem to increasingly lack emotional maturity. This started me searching through old files to try to find what I had long-ago written about the subject of maturity.
Maturity is certainly a multi-faceted subject. The paper in question compared various deficiencies in maturity with Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs.” I won’t take time here to define the culmination of Maslow’s work. But, if you wish, you can read about it by clicking here. In any case, my paper lists the following possible facets of maturity:
- Emotional Maturity
- Spiritual Maturity
- Intellectual Maturity
- Physical Maturity
These four facets of maturity are based on the four human modalities and concide rather nicely with the Scriptural designations found in the words of Jesus reported in Mark 12:30:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Please allow me to quote from my paper:
If our society has reduced the level of emotional maturity among its members to a lower than normal degree, we will observe people who exhibit traits of a self-centeredness, hyper-sensitivity to insults, elevated response to disagreements, attempts to cover over misdeeds, overly active efforts to blame others, unwillingness to take responsibility, and a general lack of commitment to doing what is right simply for the intrinsic reward that doing right affords. Within the Evangelical church, this lowered level of emotional maturity takes the form of a hyper-sensitivity to the opinions of others, wherein someone’s rightful assertion of a personal belief is interpreted as offensive, unkind, or unloving.
Lowered emotional maturity also appears as believers seeking for a church that meets their needs, rather than seeking a church where they can serve. Such individuals examine all aspects of the church against a narcisscistic point of view. They wonder whether the church is fulfilling their personal spiritual growth, rather than accepting the reality that spiritual growth comes from intense personal devotion and intentional personal effort.
Whenever people seem too quick to accuse others of offending them, a careful analysis of each scenario will often disclose that it is a lowered emotional maturity that prompts the feelings of hurt or offense and not the actual event.
While I could quote even more from this long-ago paper, I will stop at this point, only to assert, with greater certainty than I felt more than 57 years ago, that our Evangelical church is plagued by the lowered emotional maturity among its members that our truely messed-up society has promoted.
For the Christian, following the pathway of obedience flies in the face of our culture. For one thing, we live in a society of ever-increasing disobedience wrapped in a cloak of mindless conformity. Our culture also demands instant gratification. In contrast, for a Christian to obediently follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, it is more of a triple-marathon than a 50-yard sprint. One moves quite slowly along the pathway of spiritual maturity. That’s because overcoming bad habits and besetting sins takes quite a significant investment of time and effort. Then, just as soon as the “Christ’s-one” declares victory over a specific sin, the Holy Spirit gently and lovingly reveals another sin with which the believer must deal. So, the road to spiritual maturity can seem quite endless. And, it is.
King Solomon tried to lay out this walk toward spiritual adulthood when he wrote these words in Proverbs 4:10-13:
Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.
Here Solomon repeats what he has learned from God. In the literal Hebrew for Proverbs 4:12, God is saying:
“Step by step I will open up the way before you.”
So, let’s take heart! In His mercy, grace, and love, God is daily opening up the way in front of each one who follows His Son, the Lord Jesus. And, God is doing this incrementally—that is to say, step by step. We need to celebrate each victory along the pathway toward holiness. We also need to pray for each other and encourage each other, as we struggle to overcome our besetting sins.
And, we would do well to examine our own selves to determine whether or not we have chosen a pathway of a lowered emotional maturity. We can choose to improve our maturity in all four human modalities: Emotional, Spiritual, Intellectual, and Physical. As we allow the Holy Spirit to continue to make us into a new creation, we can rise up and become effective, mature individuals who will represent Christ well and bring honor to His name. As the Apostle Paul urges us in Galatians 6:2:
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Indeed, as we walk together along the pathway of obedience, your burdens are mine and my burdens are yours. Together, we will joyfully cheer each other onward.
Based on a post from Wednesday, March 4, 2015
