Grown-Ups

"We should find our wrinkles offensive and work with God to iron them out."

THE FIRST STEP to spiritual maturity is admitting you don’t know it all. The second step is not figuring it out on your own. The third is asking the Holy Spirit instead of figuring it out on your own. The fourth is not whining and throwing a tantrum or throwing in the towel when and if He doesn’t answer directly. I mean, you can ask Him where Cain got his wife, but chances are He ain’t gonna tell you. Ask Him how to make a million dollars and He may help you, but I guarantee it won’t be like you’re expecting. You will not win the lotto in order to build a bigger barn. “But Preacher So-and-So has money.” Yeah, and he has tremendous expenses and extreme generosity and will go anywhere across the earth God sends him. His integrity and humility put him where he’s at, along with obedience and work ethic. God needs men who can do extreme things. He is not going to have an impoverished church at the whim of the world system.

“That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:27)

What are the church’s spots and wrinkles? Well, money is one of them. Are we passing the offering plate to fill it or tossing it frisbee style at each other’s necks? Judgment is another. You name it about the other person, we judge them for it. Only God knows the heart. Doctrinal differences is another big one. Do we follow the letter of the law or trust the Holy Spirit? Because you can’t do both.

If I’m six stalks tall and from the North Gentry side of town, where we eat only turnip seeds, then I have to be happy to see and be kind to people who are only four stalks tall and from the East Hammond side of town, who only eat corn pone. Maybe we can’t agree on gender in the pulpit or God having His own language or electricity usage onstage, but can we agree on Jesus? Can we agree to love one another?

We should find our wrinkles offensive and work with God to iron them out instead of framing them and making them a big deal. The fact climbing four stairs to get in the church door bends me sideways should make me go up and down those stairs until I get over it. So Janet A. sings too loud and it makes my ears hurt. I’m sitting right beside her then. And if, “I don’t how that couple affords to have so many children”, then maybe I should help them, not counting the cost. Not all higgledy-piggledy, but being so in tune to God’s voice that I can hear Him say, “Go left,” and I turn left.

“To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22)

Spiritual maturity let’s God be God and do the God-stuff, and I’m the child who obeys what my Father tells me. Recognizing our errors is the first step toward not having them. It is possible to hear what people say that you totally disagree with and yet you are in the Spirit, level-headed, and nonjudgmental. Gasp. Does all that go together? It does when you allow yourself to grow up because so often, we stop our growth. We must agree to disagree WITH JOY. Not unrest. And we must seek maturity. It isn’t an apple that falls from the tree nor one we go pick on our own. Maturity only comes through time spent in the Word putting its truths into practice.

We place God in control. For God gives strategy. We can try to figure it out on our own, but the ultimate strategy is His. If He hasn’t called me to effect the solution, then I pray for those who are called, or I pray the one He is calling will step up. They will receive the strategy and whether I know it or not, fear is not my response to either knowing or not knowing. I trust God, who knows, and who never fails because I know His love for me. He will never leave me abandoned or without strength. He will never put me in a precarious place where He isn’t in control of the results. Spiritual growth is standing in that place, confident and full of hope. Patience is waiting until He says to move, at rest while I’m waiting. It’s having the questions and being satisfied without an answer. Because growth is a process that requires time and for the child of God, there is eternity.

“Because it is your desire to become more like God in character, then —in addition to trusting God—choose to do good; and in addition to doing good, study to know God’s methods. And in addition to knowing God and his methods, exercise self-discipline; and use your self-discipline to persevere in God’s plan for you to grow in godliness. And in godliness, be kind and affectionate to one another, and—above all—love! For if your hearts are being healed, then you will develop these traits of character and you will not fail to reveal the truth about our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8, Remedy)

Image by No-longer-here from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com