Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Sacramento

Maturity is God’s idea. We were not born mature; it is a life long process. God created and designed us to need one another, and to grow in relationships. Maturity is not about physical age. A five year old is not able to be an elder, but an elder can act like a five year old. There are 3 primary relationships that God intended us to function well in. They are: our relationship to God, others, and to ourself. For a balanced and healthy foundation these all should be balanced like a 3-legged stool. Each one having its size and capacity to hold our life together in a joyful and peaceful way so that in all we do it may be life giving.

Maturity is not a spiritual gift, but is a gift we can give one another. It is also not a product of salvation. Maturity is the human task, Redemption is God’s Task. God is responsible for healing, deliverance, salvation and sanctification, that is His part. We are responsible for growing into the image of God and Christ likeness.

Maturity is when we are all moving and living in unity, joy, and secure relationships, It is when we are growing to our full capacity of how God created us to live out of the uniqueness of the characteristics of our heart. And when we are fully alive in Christ using our talents and skills to our God given potential. It is to know how to distinguish good from evil, and how to suffer well like Jesus. Maturity does not give us more value or less value, but it is valuable. Its value is to build up and equip (to repair something torn) one another so that we all might attain wholeness. Maturity works best in family, community and life giving relationships.

Maturity allows us to see our sins more clearly, and to forgive others more quickly. It means we have learned to receive even before we give. In maturity we are less defensive, yet more vulnerable. We know how to speak the truth in love, give love more freely, and receive love more fully. When mature we are more humble, yet bolder. We are also able to take the responsibility for our own actions and the consequences. Maturity looks like bearing the fruit of the Spirit. It looks a lot like Jesus.

The qualities and behaviors of maturity are what we all desire to have among us, in our families, community, church, work place, and all of our relationships.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Articles.