07/12/2025
How mature are we as Christians? Have we moved from that stage in our faith where the focus has shifted from learning who Jesus was, and how to live the life of a Christian, to that of actually knowing Him and living alongside Him? Are we fully engaged in and surrounded by the will of God, and in close relationship with Jesus? Or are we still battling within ourselves to wrest control from the sinful man that resides there?
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:11-12 ESV
I am now an older man who is at the point in his life where retirement from his job is getting close, and I am looking at my financial situation and gauging how near I am to being able to transition into that new life comfortably. I have moved from a time in my working life when work was something I looked at and wondered what career I would choose, to the excitement of selecting one, to determining who best to work for, to throwing myself into the culture of my company, to advancing the goals of my employer, to being fully assimilated into my company, to bringing my own goals and aspirations to my workplace, to achieving financial comfort for my efforts, to now facing the thought of leaving all that behind for a new adventure into a strange place... retirement. After a lifetime of working, it is a frightening thought, and I wonder who I will be, and what I will do when this working season of my life is complete.
Our faith has several similarities to our profession. We mature and transition through several stages in faith, just like we do in our working lives. First, we have to determine that we believe in God, then in His Son, and from that point the exciting life of a believer truly begins... we have to decide who we will truly serve, humanity or the Lord, then to what degree? Will we go to church on Sunday and return home to a separate life, or immerse ourselves fully in our faith? Once we decide to form a deep relationship with Jesus, where do we place Him... will we be completely assimilated into Him? Are we moving in that direction? Then, one day we will find ourselves comfortable in the will of God and following him readily. Swe will begin to find that His will and our have become blurred and that we are having a hard time distinguishing between the two. Then finally, we will be bringing our relationship into our church as an example to those around us, and teaching others what it means to follow Jesus and serve God. But, this is where our working lives and our lives of faith separate completely.
There is no retirement from our faith. We never reach a place where we can no longer perform the duties of our faith with the same vigor... because it was never about the works we did, but rather the motivation behind them. The goal was never first and foremost to do the job but was always to foster the relationship we have with God and Jesus Christ. If we failed to realize this as we walked in faith, then we most certainly were stunted in our growth, and we remained immature as children in that faith... never growing beyond that of a toddler. God's desire is for us to mature. It is implicit in everything He created.
“until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”
Ephesians 4:13-14 ESV
Pastor Oswald Chambers warned us to separate our desires and God's. He spoke and wrote of placing our relationship with God before everything, especially our own self interests. This is a part of the maturing process and defines us as mature beings of faith. Listen…
"Am I building up the Body of Christ, or am I looking for my own personal development only? The essential thing is my personal relationship to Jesus Christ - "That I may know Him." To fulfil God's design means entire abandonment to Him. Whenever I want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. It will be a big humiliation to realize that I have not been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ, but only about realizing what He has done for me." - Oswald Chambers
I watch as older pastors reach the end of their pastoral work. Their bodies might be wearing out, but the faith those frail vessels contain remains as vibrant as ever... just more settled and deeply rooted. This happens with all older Christians too. Rather than exciting us with their youthful exuberance, they teach us from a place of deep abiding faith... they show us what relationship means and looks like when it approaches maturity. We see the comfortable way they can sit with God and be at ease in His silence as they feel the love of their faith like a slow-moving river that doesn't appear to be the same one that once raged through mountain gorges. But although it now moves slowly and deliberately, it is in fact the very same river... just wider, deeper, and carrying much more water.
So, this is how we should gauge the maturity of our faith. We should look at our relationships with Jesus and God and see them stripped bare of our own desires. We should compare them to the smooth water of a mature river that appears to move slowly but carries great volume.
I watched my mother and father-in-law during the final days of their lives. It was hard to witness the vessels that contained them die, but in each case, I saw the rich faith within as it continued to pour forth. My mother-in-law would sing hymns with nothing more than her shallow breathing as a voice, and my father-in-law asked for hymns to be sung to him by those at his bedside... the faith that had matured during their lives was still there, even though their bodies were retiring. This is how we should gauge ourselves in our faith and relationship with God… and is also the measure of the depth, stature, and fullness of our relationship with Christ which we should be striving to reach.
Am I describing you and your life? If so, what season of faith are you in? Are you rushing through high mountain gorges, or has your relationship become deep and wide as it prepares to flow into the sea? Have you become complacent and satisfied with the phase you find yourself in, or are you still seeking your salvation with fear and trembling?
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the process of bringing me to maturity in you. I thank you for each step and lesson along the way that is leading me to a deeper faith, and stronger relationship with you. Holy Father, I long for the time when your river will run deep, wide, and smooth, in me. Although I am occasionally concerned with how slowly my faith appears to be moving you show me that it carries more volume than I could ever fathom; it soothes me with its peaceful flow, and comforts me in its constant motion. You are ever steady and your love and wisdom are deeper than I can imagine. Never let me confuse the churning water of my faithful headwaters as being you solely, when in fact show me that the greatest part of you flows slow, wide, and deep, as it approaches the waiting sea. Still my heart Lord, calm my spirit, and let me love you in the quiet peace of a mature love and relationship, even more than I was able to when I first believed. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who cuts passes through the mountains, forms pristine lakes, and joins all the waters of my life together into the mighty flow of a peaceful river. Holy are you who brings my faith in you to its maturity within me, and instructs me to pour it over those around me who are seeking to know you in their years as I know you in mine. Give me a strong voice like that of mighty rushing water so that I can say as Jesus did… “Let the little children come to me.” So that I can share your Word with them and increase them in their belief and faith. In this way, Father, they will not only do works, but will form a relationship with you through Jesus, and in that relationship you will receive all the glory.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And Amen!
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
2 Peter 3:18 ESV
Rich Forbes