Truth in Love | Maturity

Children are very curious. Their minds, beautifully immature, are constantly crafting ways to get their way, to meld their existence with those of their family, and to fit the broad context of the world they are discovering into their little frame of understanding. This journey of understanding can sometimes lead to some very humorous and innocent conclusions. Art Linkletter even capitalized on this concept with his TV show Kids Say the Darndest Things in the late 90’s. Aside from our faith, God did not intend for humanity to remain childlike. His intention for us is growth.

Maturation is God’s design. Our brains are intricate creations that grow and develop well into our late 20’s. However, the maturing process is not a personal, isolated thing, it’s a product of integration and community. A person’s level of maturity is defined by others. In Ephesians 4:13-15 Paul echoes this idea and expresses an expectation for growth and maturation in the development of our faith. We are meant to mature and grow both individually and corporately.

Every competitive runner has a finish line etched in their mind. It’s the reason they tie up their laces and why they subject themselves to the grueling race before them. The author of Hebrews 12 uses this imagery as he calls believers to run the race God has called them to. The finish line of that race is obtained by fixing our minds on one thing; not the goal of winning, not a determination to defeat our fiercest competitor, but by fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Returning to Ephesians 4, Paul calls us to pursue maturity and sets Christ as our standard. Our goal for maturity, for completion, is Christ himself; to come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of him. Ephesians 4:15 reveals the outcome of this maturation process: a united body of believers who speak the truth in love and intricately work together to cause each other to grow and work as one, with Jesus leading the way.

Full maturity is obtained as we engage with each other, loving each other as Christ leads us. And while we engage each other, and encourage each other to fix our eyes on Jesus, He does His part. The author and perfecter of our faith is faithful to mature us more and more into the likeness of himself (Hebrews 12:2), mature and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-5).

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About the Author

Mike enjoys spending time with his wife and four kids. He loves Jesus, art, music, and poetry. He currently works as the Manager of Learning Technology Solutions for Los Angeles Pacific University and is passionate about adventuring outdoors.

"Tensions in Our Faith" by John Rice

We hear a lot at City Salt Church about the tensions within our faith. Whereas two things sometimes come across as contradictions, most often it seems we are to somehow hold those two things in tension at the same time, both of them expressing something of God’s truth. There is the tension between being predestined to be chosen by God on one hand and then the significance and power of our free will to choose or not choose God on the other hand. There is the tension between truth and grace, between judgment and forgiveness, between justice and mercy, between giving and receiving, between being like a child and being mature.

This week I came across a Scripture in Hebrews, chapter 10 verse 14, which caught my attention as another of these tensions and truths. Paul says:

By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Wait. What?

By Jesus’ sacrifice, He has made us perfect FOREVER. In grammar terms, the tense used here indicates something which has been done in the past and continues up to the present time and beyond. The word forever indicates that pretty clearly as well. We have been made perfect, and we are perfect now and will continue to be forever. Wow. That certainly raises some questions, doesn’t it? I don’t feel very perfect. In fact, I feel like I’m a long ways off from being perfect! But look what Paul says next. Who exactly has been made perfect forever?

….those who are being made holy….

Wait. What?

If we have been made perfect forever, how can we still be being made holy? Why do we still need to be made holy? This verb tense indicates we are being worked on in a continual manner, possibly, but not necessarily, with some end in the future. Maybe this “holy-making” goes on into eternity? Who knows?

So how do we deal with these two different concepts? How about this for a stab at an answer? When Paul is talking about us being made perfect forever, he is following an argument that Jesus’ sacrifice was exponentially different from the sacrifices of animals made at the temple year after year. Those sacrifices only had the spiritual power of covering sin for a definite period of time, one year. Jesus, though, having sacrificed not animals but His very self, and He, being the Son of the living God, had the power to cover sins forever. So spiritually speaking, those who believe in Him and accept His gift of atonement, truly are viewed by God as perfect, as the Son is perfect. And this is both now and forever. Scripture tells us that God remembers our sin no more. It has been removed, as far as the east is from the west. It’s kind of like God looks at Jesus and sees all His people through that lens. We truly are made perfect in Jesus.

But, on the other hand…..

We still struggle with sin, weakness, brokenness, addictions, sickness, bad thoughts, bad motives, etc, etc every day of our lives! Using some biblical language, we are told “to pick up our cross” or that we might have a “thorn in the flesh” or that there is a “sin that easily entangles us”. We are obviously not perfect yet! So how do these ideas work together? Here’s a thought….

Having been made perfect by Jesus’ sacrifice, spiritually speaking, the bridge between us and God has been restored. With the bridge restored, we can be confident to move back and forth, talking to God, learning from Him, establishing a stronger and stronger relationship with Him, experiencing His goodness, mercy, grace and love in new ways. He welcomes us freely and generously. And in doing so, we find that we WANT to be more like Him, we WANT to please Him, we WANT to learn His ways and we trust Him more. Living like this, we are truly in the process of being made more holy. We still will struggle with sin and brokenness in this life, but with our eyes turned toward the Lord, we will experience the formation of our souls as we are made more like Jesus.

Because of this tension, I take great hope in the following verse:

He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus!
Phil 1:6

"Imagination as Used by the Lord" by Laura Rice

Sunday evening Mike, in his talk about anger, challenged us to go to God and let Him show us any hidden and /or closed room in our hearts. Explaining, he walked us into a room of cobwebs and dust, long-neglected. Then we were to let God show us what this room represented in us. Perhaps a place of anger or unforgiveness that needed cleansing, healing or repentance. Maybe He will open our eyes to something in the room. We may know immediately what it symbolizes or we may have to wait and ask God to show us.

In this process of imagining, God reveals our heart-wounds and lead us to healing or confession. Places in us that are shut, blocked off or fearfully locked, can be accessed by His Spirit as He uses our own imaginations to explore and reveal. Engaging the imagination and inviting the Holy Spirit to guide us is a gift given by God. Often our imaginations will bring symbols to mind. Sunshine to bring light, a garden to show deadness or growth and beauty. Many people think in pictures. It’s an everyday experience for children, but many adults lose their ability by doubt or over-intellectualizing.

Many adults need their imaginations cleansed of all the unhealthy images. These images can block the true and good imagination, polluting it. Prayer and healing may be needed to set a person free to use their God-given imaginations for good. God gave us our imaginations to be a healthy faculty to be used by the Holy Spirit. One concern that sometimes arises is whether these imaginings are like New Age guided imagery. God showing us something using our own imaginations is so different.

A Christian is covered by the Holy Spirit and protected. We are not “wide-open” to just anyone or anything. I’ve had many opportunities to practice this exercise of asking God to use my imagination by His Holy Spirit. Often, not surprisingly, because of who I am the picture or image can be funny. During one such time I saw a red telephone booth. At first I wondered what this could mean. Then the Lord spoke to me; “You don’t have to go to any particular place to talk to me. I am available to to you anywhere and any time.” It’s like having a cell phone. Another time the question was,, “Ask God to show you the condition of your heart.” So I did and I immediately saw a popsicle stick fence, apparently to guard my heart. I felt God was showing me that I did not trust Him At the same time I had devised a ridiculous fence to keep my heart safe. From these and many more such experiences, I sat down today and asked God to show me if there was any locked door in my heart. And He faithfully walked me thru another look into my inner being.

Thanks Mike for the suggestion.

Ez 13:12

Eph 3:20

Heb. 4:12-13 attitudes translated imaginations.