Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Spiritually Mature

I am doing a Beth Moore study right now called, "Living Beyond Yourselves". It is one of her older studies but the Word of God never gets old so this study, which is full of the Word, is not outdated. In fact, it is very much speaking to my heart as I go through each lesson.

Last session there were a couple verses that jumped out at me. Were they new verses that I have never seen? No, in fact, they are common verses that I have seen, memorized and taught on many times. But they just seem to open up to me in a whole different light.

The first one is 1 Corinthians 3:1-3,
1.Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?

It seems to me that the main indicator of being spiritually immature in this scripture is that they were jealous and quarreling with each other. Like I said I have read this, heard this and taught this many times but I guess when I have thought of being spiritually immature I probably would have thought about not knowing the word or committing an obvious sin but as I looked at this verse with some new eyes this week I realized that God is telling us that a Big sign of not being spiritually mature is jealousy and quarreling with each other.

I believe especially among Christians this is a huge problem. We have a tendency to compare and to quarrel. One of my greatest desires at this time in my life is to be a light and salt not only to unbelievers but also to those who are believers, to live a life that honors God and expresses the love of Jesus to all I come in contact with. This verse has made me even more determined to question myself on a daily basis. Am I jealous of anyone? Has someone offended me or hurt me? How am I going to handle that? With Spiritual maturity or as a baby immature christian? My prayer is that more and more often I will respond with self-control, love and maturity that only the Holy Spirit can give us.

Next post I will share the second verse.

4 comments:

Snow said...

Hi Coach K! I did this study a few years ago. Thank you for your reminder! Have you done Believing God, also by Beth Moore? It's an excellent Bible study on faith. Check out the website if interested http://www.believinggod.com/

CoachK said...

Snow,
I have done the Believing God study and it was excellent. The Beth Moore study I have loved the most is her most recent, Stepping Up. In January she is coming out with a study on Ester - Can't wait!

Pat said...

Kathy,
Great post! Thank you for being such an example of a woman who continues to seek God and grow in His character.
You inspire me to do the same,
Blessings,
pat

CoachK said...

Thank you Pat for your sweet comment. We challenge, encourage and inspire each other. That is one of the things I love best about walking through this Christian life with our friends.