Our preacher at Otter Creek is going to be beginning a new series on maturity here in the next couple of weeks, with the main thesis being that one of the primary jobs of the church is to bring her members to maturity.
So here are the questions of the day: What does a mature Christian look like? What are some of the characteristics of a mature Christian? And if you are consider yourself a Christian or follower of Jesus, how do you go about pursuing maturity?
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6 comments:
The mature Christian would display the fruits of the Spirit. One word would be love.
One practical example is that the mature Christian loves and befriends people who have nothing to offer him.
As for how to become one, I'm not where I want to be. I'm going to read the comments here and I'm interested in hearing Tim's sermons in the podcast.
I'd say one important aspect of being mature would be the ability to forgive a wrong and not hold a grudge--for 4 years.
I would agree with that, anonymous. Are you referring to a specific incident?
I struggle in becoming mature in the faith. But know that staying the word is the key.
(I'm a different anonymous that the previous poster.)
Maturity is shown through radical love. Not through checking off all your boxes, but being willing to love the random person on the street the same way that you love the dearest of relatives.
Justin, I'm not sure that there ever has been or ever will be a mature Christian if we use your criteria of loving "the random person on the street the same way that you love the dearest of relatives". There is a huge difference between the two groups, primarily because of relationship, and as a result, there is also a difference in committment.
The Bible does say that "we should love our neighbour as ourselves" not as we love our parents or children. The big issue for many Christians here is that they do not love themselves. The commercial, materialistic nature of this world we live in, encourages us to feel bad about ourselves unless we have the latest look, gadget, shape etc.
Christians buy into this without even thinking that it is a secular world view, and as a result, seek to gain self worth from the world, instead of acknowledging our intrinsic value based on God's spirit in us.
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