Humans don't mature naturally. We grow into adulthood physically without effort [except perhaps to stay alive and take care of ourselves physically]. But we do not become mature human beings without conscious effort and application of certain principles--the principles of Love and Truth. Unlike the other creatures of this earth, we cannot live by instinct, impulse or feelings. There are aspects of our personality that are not safe for us or others, and that are not conducive to ultimate happiness and peace. When we look at our children and adolescents, we see these bad seeds of selfishness, judgmentalism, competitiveness, defensiveness, cruelty, hedonism, laziness, unfairness, and deceptiveness ["sneaking around"]. [It is why, for instance, that my eight year old grandson runs upstairs, as he did just now, when his grandmother started talking about certain chores that needed to be done.] This is why we consider parenting a necessity. These traits don't simply fade away as we grow into adulthood. We recognize them in our adult selves also; and we know that we cannot give in to them. If we do not consciously weed out or suppress these aspects of our personality, we become adolescent-children in adult bodies; and we wreak havoc in the world. When we are born again in Christ, our first [painful] realization is that we are "sinners". This simply means that we recognize the truth about ourselves. We are not good. And no matter how hard we try, we continue to have the downward pull of these tendencies in us. We cannot eliminate them any more than we can eliminate gravity. Jesus' life and teachings are primarily to awaken us to this reality. We are not innately good. Thankfully we are offered His Spirit to enlighten and empower us to progressively overcome our sinful nature. This is called "sanctification" or the ongoing purification of our personalities. If we are not enlightened in this way, we continue to create many problems for ourselves and others, and usually either suffer chronic guilt or blame others for it. When we come into Christ and begin this wonderful, important process, we are repeatedly amazed at the depth and tenacity of our sinful nature. We see level after level of selfishness and myriad manifestations of darkness in us. As the Apostle Paul came to understand, we realize that we are "wretched" creatures. The unredeemed mind refuses to acknowledge this reality--will not face the pain of it. Indeed, without a sufficient realization of God's love for us, even in the light of His full awareness of the ugliness of our sinful nature, none of us could bear to look at it. This is the great wonder and beyond amazing beauty of Christ's provision for us: He has taken all the ugliness of the sin of the entire human family upon Himself and destroyed it spiritually at Calvary. Therefore, when we enter into Him through faith, we are cleansed from all of it and become beloved children of God. We still have the sinful tendencies, but we are now capable, through His Holy Spirit, entering us through faith in Him, to progressively emerge from the darkness of its effects upon us, into the Light of Christ's righteousness. And even though we do not become perfect beings in that moment, we enter into His perfect Spirit that has "overcome the world", and we are delivered from condemnation without being in denial. The great paradoxical miracle is that we know that we are sinners; and we simultaneously know that we are forgiven, free, and clean in the sight of our Creator. In fact, the more in touch we are with the reality of our darkness, the more thankful and glad we are for God's love; and the more we are willing to love others with His Love. We've done the best we can do when we acknowledge the truth about ourselves and received Christ as our Savior; and God, of course, knows it.
Then we start to become mature human beings--to fulfill the potential that God has placed within us.
What does this maturity look like? It looks like Christ Himself, Who went about doing good, washed His disciples' feet, came to serve rather than to be served, took pity on the downtrodden, loved the unlovable, served those who had nothing to offer Him, was not intimidated by the powerful, intelligent, evil leaders of His day, and lived in Truth even though it cost Him an excruciating death. On a practical level, it means that we learn how to be OK when we do not get what we want [from our mate, boss, life, etc.]; it means that we do not return bad behavior [or attitude] for bad behavior [or attitude]; it means that we do not have adult temper tantrums; it means that we are able to serve [put dishes in the dishwasher, work, take the dog for a walk, clean up after the kids, etc.] without resentment; it means that we have concerns extending beyond our self and immediate family--concerns for those suffering in ways we have never had to suffer--and that we use the channels established to minister to those people; it means that we do not allow ourselves to be absorbed in meaningless entertainment; it means that we do not waste our time wishing we had somebody else's life [envying]; it means that we take time to step out of the busy-ness of life long enough to prayerfully evaluate our way of being in the world; it means that we practice compassion and gratitude as consciously chosen disciplines; it means that we discipline our anger and let go of or properly channel our frustration; it means that we stay mindful of the fact that, even though life is difficult, we are tremendously blessed to have been given this unspeakable gift, and that the Giver is good beyond all human good, and loves beyond all human love, and that, therefore, "all is well, and all is well, and all shall ever be well". Above all, it means that we consciously choose, over and over again, in every moment, to love our people---the human family---with the Love of Christ; and that we refuse to allow anything in us or in others prevent that Love from flowing through us like a healing, cleansing river of Living Water that washes away everything in us that is not free, peaceful, joyful, and fit for heaven.
May we be resolved to become more mature this year.
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