Backwards Spiritual Maturity
Image by -Kenzie- via Flickr
I was chatting with a friend the other day about Christian maturity and how difficult it is to learn to depend on Him. Even Jesus likens our relationship with him to a parent/child relationship. I had one of those moments where something comes out of my mouth and only after I hear myself say do I realize how profound (for me anyway) it is. I said, “Yes, spiritual maturity is backwards of physical maturity.”
As a child grows physically, they become less dependent on Mom and Dad. We expect them to do more and more for themselves. But the exact opposite is true of spiritual growth. While God certainly expects more of us and holds us more accountable, what he expects of us total dependency.
Spiritual growth develops wisdom which allows us to better see what we should do to accomplish God’s will and what we should wait for him to do. Spiritual growth says I trust God to take care of this instead of my ability to persuade, create, or make things happen. It’s really the backwards of the way the world does things too.
In his book “Radical” David Platt states, “The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American dream is that our greatest asset is our own ability…As long as we achieve our desires in our own power, we will always attribute it to our own glory…His power is so superior to ours. Why do we not desperately seek it?”
from my notebook 