Christian Maturity

Vanessa and I watched and waited. Time crept by. It seemed like it took the buck forever. Every now and then we would see part of an antler, a flash of his brown hide, a white flick of his tail or the twitch of an ear. He moved with subtle, almost imperceptible movements. With the patience of Job, the large buck warily circled the clearing full of corn. But he would not step out.

While he was being cautious, out stepped a doe followed by her two fawns. The three deer slowly made their way to the watering trough and the corn on the ground. They settled in and begin feeding. The young fawns became so at ease that they would run and jump and spin around. They were like young children at a carnival. Periodically, in the background, I would see another big buck as if he had appeared by magic. He too would stand frozen by the cover of the trees, cautiously watching to see if the coast was clear.

As time pasted, to the best of my ability, I surmised that there were at least three large bucks waiting to step out into our side yard, but in their wisdom they still hesitated. It was getting darker and harder to see. Vanessa and I were getting anxious to see them. If they stepped out together, this would be the first time that we would see them together so close to the house (twenty to twenty-five feet). However, if they did not step out soon, we would not be able to see them in the darkness.

I whispered to Vanessa, this is why big bucks get to be big bucks. They never throw caution to the wind. They are always on their guard. By constant use, they have developed the ability to determine what is safe and what is not … when it is safe, when it is not.

The Bible teaches the same principles concerning Christian maturity. Listen to the Hebrew writer in chapter 5.  “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.”  These two verses teach us the some important and simple truths about maturity.

Step one begins with learning the truth about righteousness. There can be no maturity unless what you are practicing is based in truth. No one can mature if their fundamental reasoning is based in falsehoods and lies. For an individual to mature they must be taught the truth about righteousness.

The second step centers around exercising those truths, so much so that the Scripture says, “by constant use.” People must constantly put those truths into action. And in doing so, it leads to step three.

Step three is the training. By constantly using the trutsh about righteousness in our lives we train ourselves. It is no different than physical exercise. It is like spring training for the football player. The constant use of basic principles helps train the football player to know what to do in each and every situation. Such training leads to the final step.

Step four is being able to distinguish good from evil. Understanding this difference does not happen overnight. Understanding the difference between good and evil does not happen just by reading a few Bible verses. Understanding the difference between good and evil is not a short simple task. It is about a program of constant training that leads us to the point that we are able to know good when we see it and know evil when it rears its ugly head.

The big buck did not get big by accident, nor do Christians mature accidentally. Maturity in the Christian life comes by constantly using the truths about righteousness until we are able to distinguish good from evil. To complete the analogy, constantly training ourselves in righteousness helps us to know when not to step out into a clearing to eat corn where we are the target.