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======Maturity 3 - Mature Faith ...======
Wednesday, Sept 30, 2009. What is a mature faith? That is an important question.
And it reaches right into the heart of the New Testament. It is addressed by
Jesus and by the apostle Paul many times indirectly and directly. They want us to
come to faith and then develop our faith. A mature faith is a developed faith.
But what is it that makes it mature? Where does it start? Where does it go to?
What is the final goal of maturity?
Christian faith starts with Jesus Christ. He is the origin and center of faith.
His life and his death, his resurrection and the new life which he brings is
in the very heart of faith. Paul describes the first steps of faith: discovering
the salvation which the cross of Jesus provides. Discovering the purity and
honesty of God, discovering that we are lost when we are not taking part in his
eternal life. Faith starts when I discover the love of God in Christ, that he
wants me to be as pure as he is, as fresh and original, as innocent and bright.
Faith starts when I realize that the cross of Jesus is for me, that I can find
new access to God when all my lost life is forgiven and restored. When I put my
life into his hands, I enter a new world. Paul calls these discoveries the
"baby food" of faith. It is for people who are just at the point to be born
afresh in the spirit of Jesus.
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But faith does not stop with the baby food. It will continue to grow, just as an
infant grows into a child, into a teen and into an adult. God wants us to grow
in faith. Growing in faith means that we develop or mind, our heart and our
actions. Growing into maturity is a key point of this development. What is a mature
Christian? It is one who is more like Jesus than an infant Christian. When we
are connected to him by his spirit, we are supposed to become similar to him
in our heart, with our thoughts and actions, with our whole existence. Maturity
for Christians means "being more like Christ". We are part of his body, we are
a part of him. He will shape and transform our life - step by step.
The biblical idea of a Christian life is that of a process. With the point where we
come to faith in Jesus, we start a transformation process. The bible argues on
two levels. On one level we are completely transformed immediately. We become a
part of Christ, of the "body of Christ". We are a new creation. On the second
level the transformation takes a whole lifetime. God does not change all our habits
immediately. He does not immediately change our past, our character,
the way we are. These things are changed, but using our own will, our own decisions,
our upcoming experiences and history. Maturity means that we progress on this
path of transformation. We change, because a wonderful God lives in us and with us.
Becoming mature does not mean that everything will be done easily. God will give
us challenges into our life, which are adequate to our current state. He might
give easy challenges to some people, very difficult ones to others. But we can
be sure that there are challenges for everyone. Humans tend to hold on to things,
which they should let go free. We tend to hold on to money, to worldly securities,
to all different types of goals. But not all of this is good for us. There is
no other security than the love of the eternal God. There is no other sustainable
goal than the joy of being with the source and center of life. All other things
will be challenged when the time is right.
It is a real joy to search for maturity in faith. I have not found more liberating
things than the maturity of the Holy Spirit. Imagine everyone in our environment
would act like Jesus did. We would live in heaven on earth! Maturity in faith,
in behaviour, in thoughts and words, is just a wonderful experience. The adventure
of faith is an adventure of maturation - it is a challenging adventure, but
unbelievably fantastic at the same time!
[R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]
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