I am not mature!

Mature:  Fully developed in body or mind; complete; perfected; ready; prepared.  Now, how many of you will say you are mature?  In society today, we often think of maturity as reaching a certain age - the age of "legality".  In other words - it is a measure of chronological years, not so much a measure of anything on the inside of the person.  The problem with this way of thinking is that we often have a whole lot of "mature-looking" individuals walking this earth, but they really lack the evidence of maturity in the emotions, mind, or their spirit.  Chronologically, they are "of age" - spiritually, emotionally, or intellectually, they are still immature.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.  Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.  He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.  (Ephesians 4:11-16 MSG)

The idea of maturity carries several very focused meanings.  First, there is this idea of being fully developed.  Having lived with some fruit trees in my backyard as a kid, I know it takes some time for the fruit to come to a place of being developed enough to actually eat it.  As an orange "matures", it goes from a solid green color, to a light yellow, and then a full-bodied orange color.  The chance you take in plucking it too early from the tree is the arresting of the maturing process.  You might see it continue to change color a little, but the "full-bodied" taste of the orange is produced best while it still attached to the source of its maturing!  Now, in a spiritual sense, the place of maturing for a believer is not detached from the branch!  It is in finding a good connection with others who will actually aid your development that maturity is realized.  

Second, readiness is evident in maturity.  If you have ever waited any length of time for a child to be "ready" to leave for a destination they may not actually "want" to go to, you will know exactly what I am speaking of here!  The child "knows" the destination - but they aren't "ready" to get there.  They dilly-dally with the silliest things - taking forever to find their shoes, comb their hair, and get their jacket from the last place they threw it aside.  Now, if we are still doing this as we come into adulthood, most of us would never make it out the door to work in the morning!  We learn to do even the things which don't really thrill us - because we have come to a place of maturity which "overrides" our desire to stay in bed!  There is a readiness to arise in the morning, greet the new day and its challenges, and then come home to do it all over again.  In the spiritual sense, readiness is a key indicator of our level of maturity.  When God asks us to take a step with him, do we balk?  Or are we "ready" to move into what he has for us?  

So, how is it we get to this place of maturity, complete in every way?  I don't know about you, but I haven't arrived yet, but I am on the journey!  Maturity is more than a "time" in life - it is a consistent development process, never fully ended until it is ended.  My pastor says the biggest room in your house should be the room for improvement (Pastor Chad Moore).  If you think about this, he is right.  When we think about being mature, we sometimes think we have arrived at a point in life where there is no further need for "maturing" - almost like a wine maker might say a wine has reached its "perfection".  None of us actually reaches the point of perfection - if we think we do, we are only fooling ourselves.

The best we can ever do is stay in a place which allows us to mature - like the orange attached to the tree.  If we begin to see the resources God has provided for our growth (maturity), we will begin to see the benefit of being rightly connected for however long it takes!  Ever eat fruit which is ripened too quickly - it lacks taste, may be a little bitter, and is dry.  In contrast, the fruit which is allowed to develop to its point of maturity "connected" to its source of development has not only a different appearance on the outside, but the inside is quite different, too.  The pulp of a mature orange is full of juice - it has a robust taste, emanates a pleasant aroma, and is sweet to the one taking it in.  The same is true of spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually.  Stay connected to the source of maturity and you will find you produce a "robust" taste, a pleasant aroma, and are not as bitter!

The outside may be deceiving - just looking mature doesn't make us mature.  It is in focusing on what is on the inside that we begin to actually "actualize" maturity.  Readiness is a result of preparation.  Being complete is a result of being perfected.  When we want to do well at something, we just don't launch out and expect to do it well the first time.  We have to prepare - to perfect our skill.  Let's not get the cart before the horse - we have lots and lots of room for improvement in our lives before any of us can actually say we are "mature".  Just sayin!

Unfinished Products

^29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

(Romans 8:29-30)

It is very freeing to recognize that we have an example to pattern our lives after.  When we no longer have to "figure out" what it is that we are expected to be, how we are to live our lives, it is quite liberating.  Paul reminds us that we have a pattern for our lives established well in advance of each new breath we breathe.  God decided long before you or I breathed our first breath on this earth what our lives should be like - he shaped the very fibers of our being with the purpose of living according to his purpose.

When I really begin to grasp the reality of that statement, I can begin to live a transformed life.  You see, when I am no longer needing to decide the direction my life should take, I am free to pursue the purpose of one who already knows!  It is also very satisfying to know that what God begins, he takes to full / total completion!  God isn't into making junk - something that serves a purpose for a time and then is discarded somewhere down the road.

He is all about making works of art - things of beauty to be treasured for eternity.  Look at the progression here:

• God planned for us to be his kids - it was his ultimate goal that he should have us in his family.
• After making this plan, he sent out the invitation - our part is to accept the invitation.
• Once we have taken on the new "family name" (a child of God), he sets us up for all we need to walk according to his purposes
• Now established on that strong foundation, we can be assured that he will complete the work of growing us up in his family

I don't see any deviation in the plan, do you?  He does the work, we respond to the calling, he completes that which we were called to be - children of the living God.  I may fail to acknowledge his grace on occasion, even stumble and fall a little, but I am still part of his family, under his care, soon to be moving according to his plan and purpose again!

Woohoo!  We serve a good God!  Awesome in every way!  We need to celebrate the grace of God in our lives.  We need to enjoy (truly embrace) the plan of God - making us into works of art!  An artist has an end in mind when he begins his work - it may not be evident when the first brush-stroke hits the canvas, or the first clump of clay is placed on the wheel, but he has a "vision" for the "finished-product".  

We sometimes get so "wigged-out" by the fact that we don't look like or act like a "finished-product" of God.  Don't lose hope!  God is still making brush strokes and tenderly shaping the clay.  Keep this one thing in mind:  He who begun a good work in you will be SURE to complete it!