Where Do We Get Our Ideas About Maturity?

You know, I am beginning to see more clearly something that has been happening in the Church for a while. And that is that the people that don't believe in the Lord, the way we do as Christians, are beginning to shape the way the Church thinks. I have heard over the years that people just need to "grow up". But I have begun to wonder about what exactly that should mean to us as Christians. Now a-days it seems like what "growing up" means is that you are financially stable and you don't take a lot of risks! I'm sorry but I just don't see that in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I am tired of seeing "spiritual leaders" look at budget numbers and comfort levels as some of the biggest factors of "discerning" if God wants something to happen! When you look at a lot of the leadership books that are out now a-days and what they say the perfect leader looks like it seems a little weird to me. I say that because when I look through these books or hear the ideas contained within them I don't usually see Jesus in the book very much. Many times the books that tell us how to lead well, if you take an honest look, pretty much say that Jesus was the worst leader and discipler of all time. And now a-days we would probably say that He has no idea how to lead an affective ministry, and that He doesn't have any idea how to keep people safe when they are young in the faith!

Let’s look at a story from the Bible really quick. It is the story of the demoniac, the guy who had a boat-load of demons in him. Jesus comes up to shore and after he takes a few steps onto land this demon possessed guy runs up to Him and the demons start talking and then Jesus casts them out and delivers the guy. This dude was running around naked, breaking things, screaming like crazy, simply put he was out of his mind and had a lot of issues. So Jesus helps this guy by telling the demons to leave, they do, and then this guy gets saved and they get some clothes on him and then just a little bit later Jesus makes him the head evangelist for the whole region...I can honestly say that I don't know a single pastor who would agree with that kind of "discipling" experience if it happened today. In fact if someone did that, they would probably be considered dangerous and immature.

Now as you are reading this I don't want you to think that I am saying that we shouldn't use our minds or that we should neglect wisdom but I do want you to take a look at what you think 'wisdom' and 'maturity' really are. If you took your definitions of what 'maturity' and 'wisdom' should be, would you be able to find your definitions in the life of Jesus? Or have you possibly had your thoughts twisted into a perversion (perversion means the wrong version) of what Jesus said these things look like?

The Bible says that the wisdom of God looks like foolishness to the world...if that is the case why is one of our biggest concerns to meet the standards of the world? Jesus is the one who said that to become great in the Kingdom of God you must become the servant of all. Jesus is the one who said that when you think you are better than other people and that you have everything figured out you are the one who is the most deceived. True wisdom won't fit into the worlds model for success and greatness.

Jesus said that if we are really going to get what He and His Kingdom are all about, then we need to become like children. This doesn't mean that we stop using our minds and just believe whatever anyone says. What it does mean though is that our Father in Heaven is always right...even if we don't understand at the moment. Whatever faults the leaders in your life have had, your Father in Heaven doesn't have any of those...He is perfect in every way and always does what is best for you.

Let us not be filled with pride and think that the newest book or teaching on how to lead, or make great leaders, or be a great person or gain maturity could ever be greater than what we find in the life of Jesus Christ. If your principles of how things should work cannot be found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ then it is you who need to readjust...not Jesus.

Take a look at what you believe and see if what you believe matches up with what Jesus says is true.

Thoughts On Storms and Standing:

Times come in life when you really begin to wonder what the heck is going on. You don't always know what is going on, why it is going on, or how long things will last, good or bad. But as we look at life i think there are some ways to look at life that may be helpful.

First, we need to realize that there are times to advance and there are times to do your best to stand firm where you are. It would be nice if we could always advance but the fact is that storms do come and bad things do happen. Every day may not be a warm sunny day where everything goes perfect, i think everyone knows that by now. This is not to say that there has to be more bad days than good, in fact i would say that i have more good days than bad but there are bad days and hard seasons in life. And when those seasons do come i do my best to stand my ground, to hold on, and to last through the storm.

A picture popped into my head as i was thinking about this idea of standing your ground in hard times. I got a picture of a tornado blasting through a country side and a guy was holding on to a rope that was tied down to a stake in the ground. He was being tossed around and banged up a bit and i realized that if he tried to do anything else besides hang on it would not be helpful. If he tried to advance move somewhere else he would probably be sucked into the storm and hurt even more if he survived. I know this may sound intense but i thought about how stupid it is sometimes when in the middle of the storms in my life i try to move forward and do a bunch of different things to try and fight the storm instead of letting the storm pass naturally.

This blog isn't to get people down and say when a storm comes don't try because you can't win. It's not to say you should give up. I wanted to put these thoughts down for people to take the pressure off of having to solve the storms that come in your life. Trust that storms will pass, you will make it through, and in the end you will begin to advance once again. Storms come and go, but you will stay and advance.

Never give up because in the end you will win!