A Need For Maturity

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery – Galatians 5:1 NIV.

Paul is writing to a group of Christians in the city of Galatia. He had met them before when he traveled through their area and preached the message of Jesus to them. He had taught them that through faith in Jesus’ death for their sins on the cross they could be forgiven by GOD and welcomed into His family as His children, and they believed in those words. Later, however, a group of Jewish religious leaders showed up to add to what Paul taught them. These leaders said that it was good to believe in Jesus, but they also said men must be circumcised and all must follow the law of Moses to truly be included in the family of GOD.

It was easy for the Galatians to be taken by this new teaching and most were torn in between whether they should circumcise or not. This made Apostle Paul very furious and he says to them, “Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?”  They had started very well in the Spirit but they ended up in the flesh. 

The above scenario is a sign of spiritual immaturity to me. The fact that the Galatians were convinced to let go of the truth because of a false teaching they had recently heard shows that they did not have the Spirit of God living within them. If they really had the Holy Spirit living within them, they were going to discern that this new information comes to shift their focus from the truth. Attaining spiritual adulthood is the process of GOD training us to consistently live from the perspective of the Spirit rather than the perspective of the flesh.

Maturity in Christ includes looking at and reacting to things from a spiritual perspective, not through the eyes of the natural man. God wants us to get to this place of maturity, to live as we were created to. But many of us are not yet living the Christ-like life, which means we are still immature. If we’re living like that, we’re children, tossed here and there by every new bump, trial, or temptation that comes along. If you want to stand firm as a believer and to constantly grow, you ought to ensure that you have the Spirit of GOD living on the inside of you, living a life fully surrendered to Him and your steps ordered by Him. 

But many of us are not yet living the Christ-like life, we are still immature children tossed here and there by every new bump, trial or temptation that comes along