About Spiritual maturity

2Cor8:10-12 "Someone who thinks it is wrong to eat this food will see you eating at a temple restaurant, for you know there is no harm in it. Then he will become bold enough to do it too, although all the time he still feels it is wrong. So because you 'Know it is all right to do it', you will be responsible for causing a great spiritual damage to a brother with a tender conscience for whom Christ died. And it is a sin against Christ to sin against your brother by encouraging him to do something he thinks is wrong. " TLT

Over time I have come to truly understand that they are levels of Christianity; some people are baby Christians, some teen Christians while others are adult Christians and the level of our Christianity is dependent on the amount of word at work in us (not the amount scriptures you can quote or how long you can pray or the amount of bible translations you have but the level of your dependability on Christ and His word ( I mean the extent to which you have grown enough to realize that you can do absolutely nothing by yourself but that with Christ you can do exploits and His word in your life is what truly matters).
Spiritual maturity is dependent how much the word has gotten past your flesh and senses to embrace the word in your spirit and how much you obey and walk in what you learn. To grow, we have to consciously choose to die to the flesh and always obey the Lord's instruction even if it doesn't make sense.
Yes! Spiritual growth isn't about your good deeds (works) but about the level of intimacy you have with God.

Like any other kind of growth, spiritual growth is a process and so everyone of us was at one time a baby Christian (still being tossed around by the words and doctrines of men).
Being humans, we tend to forget how we started and sometimes forget that the fact that we have grown doesn't mean that everyone around us has grown too.

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Sometime ago I was having a discussion with a friend, we were talking about a certain 'sort of controversial' subject which coincidentally, the Holy Spirit had just taught me about.
Now, when the subject came up I was elated as I saw it as an opportunity to pour out that which I had just learnt but after awhile my elation ran dry as the discussion became an argument. I was saying exactly what I had learnt but He wasn't understanding me and so couldn't accept my conviction. The more I tried to explain and make him get my point, the more confused he became and so intensely grew the argument. At the end, we left without being able to convince each other.
Sometime later, the Holy Spirit made me understand that he hasn't grown enough to understand my teachings and so in confusion, the argument ensued. He said if I continued hampering my point, he might have eventually concord because he 'respects' me but every time he does it, he'd sin as he'd do it in doubt and ANYTHING DONE OUTSIDE FAITH (what we believe in) IS SIN.
This truth made me remember the times when my 'mentor' had told me stuffs that didn't appeal to senses and how confused and unsure I was every time I tried to act on those stuffs. With time though, I have grown to fully understand majority of she said.
Anyway, I went back to my friend and told him I understood his point and that it's alright for him to stick to his belief while I stick to mine and that maybe one day we'd get to the same conclusion on the subject as it is the same Spirit that lives within us all.

What I'm trying to say is: we are not all in the same level of maturity in Christ and so when discussing with younger Christians (esp about controversial or very deep things), you should make sure you convince them beyond all reasonable doubt or you let them be (as with time, - if they are willing - they'd learn one way or the other).

Don't ever try to impose your beliefs on anyone, infact try and stay away from the controversial and deep stuffs when you are with younger Christians. (Even Apostle Paul said he couldn't tell the Corinth church some things because they had not grown enough to be able to digest meat, so he fed them only milk at that time. 2Cor3:20).

Know this---»We all have the same Spirit and hence, he'd teach us all the same things though at different times, depending on how ready or mature we are and remember that a primary aim of our Faith is too build each other up, so in all your dealings, think about your brother.


Aaah! Yes! I just remembered something Rick Warren tweeted yesterday. He said "though our effort is not needed for us to get saved (as we are saved by grace), spiritual growth is a deliberate process". In other words, "While we have to do nothing to gain salvation, we have to work to grow, we have to discipline ourselves till studying and praying become to us like the air we breath. We need to die daily and constantly walk in Spirit and live with the consciousness that we are under grace and now above sin."

Remember, your level of maturity isn't about how good you have become but how much of your 'self' you have surrendered.


Much love!