Growth and Maturity
The catchy jingle “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R Us Kid!” strikes a chord in each of us. I believe there is a kid within all of us that resists the steady march toward adulthood and the myriad of responsibilities it brings. While being playful and having fun is something I never want to lose, maturity requires that I also learn to embrace grown up realities… something not everybody learns to do.
I remember being invited to a dinner at a couple’s home and being immediately struck with the number of toys I saw. I was led around by the husband who proudly showed me dozens of items from entertainment centers to sporting goods and even his “toy hauler” trailer parked by the side of the house. At the end of the evening having experienced no substantive conversations nor having one question asked of Kay and me, I remember driving away thinking “this is a boy in a grown man’s body.” Sometime later, while channel surfing, I stopped on the “The Real Wives of St. Elsewhere” and after a few minutes thinking to myself, “Junior High girls in grown women’s bodies.”
God has a different desire for each of us. Maturity! Addressing “adult” Christians in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul says “… we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming: but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 4:14-15).”
What does growth and maturity look like? What’s the difference between a child and an adult? Why does personal growth seem so foreign and daunting? We’ll begin to explore these and other questions more fully next week.
Thanks for listening.
Milan & Kay