blog 25: maturing
I remember when I stopped drinking and stopped smoking I spoke to a cousin of mine . She told me “Lex you’re just maturing”.
I realized it took the Lord dealing with me for me to mature.
Ive been in my walk with Jesus for 10 years now. I’ve had a LOT of maturing to do and continue to grow in this area.
Theres a portion of scripture that I read recently. And as I read it , it made sense.
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.
This is the LOVE chapter as some like to call it. I never realized after Paul talks about love is …
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13
He talks about maturity. Why? Because sometimes we just have to grow up. We have to stop throwing pitty parties, stop holding grudges, stop trying to do it OUR way. How does a child reason?
Well I have 3 of them. And it’s not rational. There is no control. And the biggest one of them all is, they are SELFISH, they only think about themselves, how they feel and what they want because they are children.
My daughter stomps away while she’s talking back sometimes.
My son will scream or cross his arms and say NO!
My little baby will now throw herself on the floor and cry till she gets what she wants.
And the truth is I can find myself doing that stuff too!! I cross my arms and head to bed all mad because my husband didn’t do or treat me how I felt I needed to be treated. Like a child.
I’ve gotten better in other areas…
I would start mouthing off and not be able to stop because I had a lack of control of my tongue, like a child.
I would cry out of frustration because I thought things should go the way I believed they should go. Like a child.
And now with help of my pastors wife, I’ve learned something that seems to help a lot. Pray.
As women, we like to say what we will feel right then and there. We like to take action asap! But I’ve learned to take some time to pray before reacting. I don’t mean a few minutes I mean a few DAYS maybe even a week!
That is reasoning like a mature women. Children don’t do that. They don’t take time to stop and think. They just act. They just talk.
This verse says “I put them aside” I’ve had to consciously put my feelings and emotions aside, because they were childish. Sometimes as I speak to people I can feel what I want to say and what I should say both bubbling to the top. There’s a child and a mature women.
It’s funny because even when people hurt us we like to start pointing fingers or play the blame game. Like children. As real followers of Jesus it’s time to grow up. It’s time for us to stop being like little children.
Hebrews 5:12-By now you should be teachers. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the first things you need to know from God’s Word. You still need milk instead of solid food. 13 Anyone who lives on milk cannot understand the teaching about being right with God. He is a baby. 14 Solid food is for full-grown men. They have learned to use their minds to tell the difference between good and bad.
Our time is short. Jesus is coming back for a spotless bride. We need to be able to use our minds to know good and bad. To know am I acting like a child or a mature adult? Am I acting like the world or like Jesus? It makes all the difference not only in your walk, but in representing our Savior! How you treat someone either brings them closer to, or further away, from God.
This is a DAILY practice. It takes discipline not only in your mind but in your speech.
Putting aside the drugs and alcohol was the mature thing to do. But that was the easy part! It’s when you have to be humble enough to say “I’m sorry”. It’s when you have to bite your tongue when you’re boiling over. It’s when you have to stop and take time to pray instead of take action.
Maturing is knowing God and knowing God’s Word. Without that we are just little babies. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to stay a child in my spiritual walk.
If you don’t either my prayer is that you would ask God to help mature you. You would seek Him in His word. Daily! Bottom line is …it’s time for us to grow up.
Love you friends. ONE LOVE!
