As I look back on my childhood, I realise I spent a lot of it wishing my life away and looking ahead to the day when I would finally be “A grown-up.” I would often seek to clarify from my parents exactly when that big day would come. Would it be when I was sixteen? Sixteen seemed awfully big. Yet, it was at the age of eighteen that my brother, older than me by 11 years, was presented with several boxes containing ornamental keys, which were meant to signify maturity. Older people in my life, like my grandmother, maintained that in their day, you weren’t an adult until you were 21. So had my brother had his keys 3 years too early?
Now, as an adult looking back, I regret those years of wishing my life away, and longing to be grown up, and sometimes wish I could go back and have my uncomplicated childhood all over again. But of course, we can’t go back – only forward.
So here I sit, at the grand old age of 40, wondering whether I can really now call myself a grown-up. And what are the yardsticks for maturity? In worldly terms, I suppose it would be things like taking responsibility for your own finances, your home, and your family, but maturity in the Lord’s eyes is a different thing altogether.
When we first become Christians, the Bible likens us to new-born babies, needing to be fed on spiritual milk. We have to get the basics right before we can progress. In fact, one of the main problems in today’s church is a lack of basic training, which either leads people to a state of unending spiritual babyhood, or else stunted growth. The apostle Peter gives this advice: “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like new-born babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1Peter 2: 1-3.)
When a child is learning to walk, he will often want to try running before taking the basic tottering baby steps, but it’s ridiculous to think you can run before you walk, both in the natural and the spiritual. Our journey with Jesus is called a walk on many occasions in the Bible, and every walk has to have its beginnings.
When we are in the company of baby Christians, it’s a real privilege to be a part of helping to make sure they get the right spiritual grounding. We can all be responsible for feeding them small amounts of milk at the right times, in the way many parents share the feeding schedule of their new-born baby. One person can take feeding duty for a while, so another can rest, and then the roles are reversed.
However, just as a baby progresses from milk to solid food, so must a Christian if they are to grow into maturity in Christ. And to do that, you don’t go from milk to a chewy chunky sirloin overnight, tempting though the thought of it may be. You move incrementally from milk to solids, introducing new spiritual concepts and ideas gradually, at a pace which suits the individual. The main thing is that we are willing to learn and grow. There are stern warnings in Hebrews chapter 5 verses 11-14 for those who refuse to move from the milk to the solid food. “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
Of course, we all learn at different rates. No one knows that better than the one who created us. This fact is as true of the spiritual life as it is of the natural, so don’t put pressure on yourself if you feel others are ahead of you in their walk. Your walk is your own. it is a personal matter between you and Jesus, and if you let him, he will lead you at an even pace along the road to maturity.
Just as a growing child needs regular food, a growing Christian must feast regularly from God’s word, and from sound teaching. And of course, if we will but take the time to sit at his feet, we can learn our most valuable and deepest lessons from Jesus himself.
So one question remains. When do we make it? When I reached the age of 18, was I suddenly an adult, knowing everything I needed to launch me into an independent life? Well actually, I was far from it, even though I was rather puffed up with my own self-importance at the time, and thought I was more than ready. Now, looking back from the space of another 20 plus years, I can see that my growing and maturing process did not stop at eighteen. It continued, and it still continues to this day.
Likewise, my journey with Jesus began at a very young age. I was taken to church as a baby in my mother’s arms and cannot remember a time when I wasn’t being educated in the gospel. Yet, I am still learning. Every day, as I open God’s word, I seem to learn something fresh. I can often read the same verses time and time again, but they will say something new to me, something specific for a specific time, or relating to life situations.
So as Christians, we will not stop growing and reach full maturity until we stand before Jesus in heaven. Then, we are told by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, we will know fully, even as we are fully known. At that time, we will be perfected in glory, but until then, we will continue to learn and mature, even if we live to be 90.
The day we stop growing is the day we stagnate and become stunted. The Lord is far more wonderful and has far more things to reveal to us than we will ever comprehend this side of eternity. Like plants leaning toward the sun, let’s keep leaning toward Jesus, and allow the light of his presence and the riches of his word to feed us and help us grow.