Mental Maturity
Mental maturity involves independence and self-care. It involves taking responsibility for commitments. It also means refusing to make excuses and to instead always strive for our best.
As parents, one of our goals was to teach our boys to be independent. We wanted them to know how to take care of themselves and to be responsible in a well-rounded way. This is the essence of mental maturity.
My husband often had to remind me of this goal when I expressed discouragement over my boys needing me less and less every day. My sadness about their pulling away from me became quite heavy at times, and that’s when he would say:
“Remember, that’s always been our goal.”
Like independence is important in our development as humans, learning dependence on Jesus and His Holy Spirit is even more so in our spiritual maturity.
Spiritual Maturity
Unfortunately, I don’t think we taught our boys the idea of spiritual maturity very well, probably because we’re still learning it ourselves. Dependence seems to go against the human part of us that desiress to be in control.
“Spiritual maturity is counter to human maturity.” (Live Dead Joy by Dick Brogden)
Spiritual maturity involves dependence on God and allowing him to actively care for us. It involves waiting patiently for him to unfold his will and then moving fully into it. Spiritual maturity also means continually acknowledging our weaknesses and realizing we can only be our best under his grace and mercy.
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God.” (Hebrews 6:1)
Moving forward in spiritual maturity brings growth that obviously lies beyond any we could obtain on our own.
The Mark of Love
Spiritual growth becomes obvious to ourselves and others through one indelible mark.
“Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” (Matthew 22:37-40)
If we only mature in a mental way, especially as directed by our culture, we become increasingly self-serving and defiantly independent. If we also mature spiritually, though, we can live in humble obedience seen through the mark of love on our lives.
Coach_Mike
Excellent point. I had a discussion with my pastor recently on this matter. Jesus gathered disciples but not to keep them as disciples – constantly under his care and tutelage. Jesus prepared them for striking out on their own as apostles. After Jesus died the apostles, his former disciples, picked up the mantle and carried on calling their own disciples who in turn became apostles and leaders of the church family. Such is the progress of life, ala the theme of the Lion King story on Broadway or the movie. As parents we cannot cling to our children so tightly they remain dependent children. They must become independent adults. Just as we have scars and bruises from our journey, they too must experience some of the same struggles to gain their confidence as adults ready to parent their own children. One day you will be sitting on your porch with your sons and their wives while their children play in the backyard. You'll hear them grumble and complain about the struggles of parenting and you'll smile…
Kari Scare
Thanks for a vision of the future. I needed to read that.