What is Christian Maturity?
What is Christian maturity and what is its goal?
Recently someone asked me if I thought Proverbs 3:5-6 represented the goal or vision statement of Christian maturity.
This is what I said...
I think Proverbs 3:5-6 is a wounderful verse. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all of your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path." The verse is certainly foundational. "The fear of the Lord," or as the writer of proverbs says here "Trust in the Lord," is the beginning of Wisdom. Before we set out on the journey of life we must make trust in the Lord our resolve. Trust is the ever present foundation of Christian growth. Faith is the Matrix in which the Christian matures. All understanding is built upon faith.
However because trust is always needed in the Christian life, the verse may potential stifle Christian growth rather than encourage it. Instead of faith guiding someone to Christian maturity faith may become the end goal in and of itself. Someone could rightly reason, If trust equals Christian maturity and I trust in the Lord then what point is there in anything further? (This appears to me to be the reasoning of the "name-it-claim- it crowd) The book of James continues to rebuke this mentality even today.
While deeper trust is certainly a goal of Christian maturity it is not the goal entirely. In what sense is the trust of a new beleiver diffrent from the trust of a mature believer? The new beleiver while trusting in the Lord, holds misconceptions about what that trust entails. For instance a new believer may still beleive in a "woman's right to choose" or in naturalism or in his or her own ability to command the actions of God (i.e. the name-it-claim-it crowd). The mature beleiver on the other hand has worked out the implications of his faith through prayer, study, and meditation and continues to do so. Growth then is faith working itself out. It is making application of the trust we already possess. As St. Augustine said its "fath seeking understanding." The mature believer is one who continually works out the implications of his belief, who binds his thoughts to the scriptures and discovers how they apply to his or her life. In this sense a mature believer is one who ceases to be spoon fed. Like high school diploma which does not represent absolute knowledge but rather a students ability to think on there own, the goal of Christian education is not knowledge but rather an ability to wrestle with issues within a faith worldview.
In this sense Proverbs 3:5 and 6 is an appropriate verse for Christian maturity. If we start with trust then God will show us the application of this faith in every direction of our lives. Trust however is not the entire measurement of Chrstiain maturity. Christian maturity is measured by the depth to which Christians have reached in uncovering the implications of there faith. This is the path to which Proverbs 3:6 refers. In this sense the goal of Christian maturity is becoming more like Jesus rather than simply believing in Jesus.
Recently someone asked me if I thought Proverbs 3:5-6 represented the goal or vision statement of Christian maturity.
This is what I said...
I think Proverbs 3:5-6 is a wounderful verse. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all of your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path." The verse is certainly foundational. "The fear of the Lord," or as the writer of proverbs says here "Trust in the Lord," is the beginning of Wisdom. Before we set out on the journey of life we must make trust in the Lord our resolve. Trust is the ever present foundation of Christian growth. Faith is the Matrix in which the Christian matures. All understanding is built upon faith.
However because trust is always needed in the Christian life, the verse may potential stifle Christian growth rather than encourage it. Instead of faith guiding someone to Christian maturity faith may become the end goal in and of itself. Someone could rightly reason, If trust equals Christian maturity and I trust in the Lord then what point is there in anything further? (This appears to me to be the reasoning of the "name-it-claim- it crowd) The book of James continues to rebuke this mentality even today.
While deeper trust is certainly a goal of Christian maturity it is not the goal entirely. In what sense is the trust of a new beleiver diffrent from the trust of a mature believer? The new beleiver while trusting in the Lord, holds misconceptions about what that trust entails. For instance a new believer may still beleive in a "woman's right to choose" or in naturalism or in his or her own ability to command the actions of God (i.e. the name-it-claim-it crowd). The mature beleiver on the other hand has worked out the implications of his faith through prayer, study, and meditation and continues to do so. Growth then is faith working itself out. It is making application of the trust we already possess. As St. Augustine said its "fath seeking understanding." The mature believer is one who continually works out the implications of his belief, who binds his thoughts to the scriptures and discovers how they apply to his or her life. In this sense a mature believer is one who ceases to be spoon fed. Like high school diploma which does not represent absolute knowledge but rather a students ability to think on there own, the goal of Christian education is not knowledge but rather an ability to wrestle with issues within a faith worldview.
In this sense Proverbs 3:5 and 6 is an appropriate verse for Christian maturity. If we start with trust then God will show us the application of this faith in every direction of our lives. Trust however is not the entire measurement of Chrstiain maturity. Christian maturity is measured by the depth to which Christians have reached in uncovering the implications of there faith. This is the path to which Proverbs 3:6 refers. In this sense the goal of Christian maturity is becoming more like Jesus rather than simply believing in Jesus.
posted by Matthew Miller at 12:32 PM
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