by Kristen Lim

This article is a continuation on the Growing Pains series, a look at various topics that young Christians may encounter.

If you’ve been keeping up with this series so far, we’ve seen how maturity takes time as we utilize the means of grace God has given (reading Scripture, prayer, fellowship with other Christians, etc.) to grow in holiness and fight sin. He will surely be faithful to produce fruit in His children! But what exactly are we maturing towards? In short, spiritual maturation is becoming more like God (Ephesians 5:1). Rather than providing a survey of various marks of spiritual maturity (for that, I usher you to Peter Lim’s series entitled “Signs of Spiritual Maturity”), I wanted to point out two “maturity mirages,” or two misleading indicators of spiritual maturity. It is important that we are measuring spiritual maturity based on God’s standards and not on our opinions, so that we strive towards true Christ-likeness.

Maturity Mirage #1: Knowledge

There is a challenge where someone holds a burning match while reciting all the books of the Bible in order, and must complete the task before getting burned. As impressive as that sounds, it is not a sure mark of spiritual maturity. Maybe you have memorized a whole book of the Bible; you have read not one, but TWO systematic theology books; you can easily walk through the main points of the Gospel with Bible references for each key point; you can even spout out the right Bible verses for counseling situations.

All those things are not bad. In fact, it’s good and profitable to be well versed with Scripture and to understand your faith. But accumulated knowledge isn’t meant to just stay in the head. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is a familiar passage to most: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” The knowledge that is garnered through the careful study of God’s word does not stop at just knowing facts, but leads to good works.

Lest we forget that we are not saved by good works, Paul reminds us in Titus 3:1-8 that “[God] saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” On the basis of our firm foundation of faith in the mercy we have received through Jesus, the response is to be careful to engage in good deeds.

These good works don’t have to be super extravagant. It could simply be sharing one of God’s promises to a downcast sister or brother, cooking a meal for a sick family, or choosing to show grace and kindness to someone who made a hurtful comment to you. Perhaps the more difficult good deeds are the ones done in the quietness of your heart, for example, to seek unity and peace with a fellow member of the church after a conflict, since this truly tests your “knowledge” of God’s love towards you. A spiritually mature person not only grows in knowledge and deeper understanding of who God is, but applies that knowledge in good works and points others to glorify Him (Matthew 5:16).

Maturity Mirage #2: Giftedness

In our human nature, we find pride and identity in our talents, personalities, and status that may contain leverage to make us feel better than others. And we can also have a higher view of others that have certain desirable qualities and giftedness. This can be very subtle. We may deem eloquent people who can orate beautiful sentences filled with emotion, as more passionate for God than the soft-spoken stutterer who serves in the background. Or maybe it is the quieter person that is viewed as having more maturity in speech than the jovial jokester. Or even assuming that a married person is more spiritually mature than a single, just based on marital status.

I won’t go into every scenario or case-study, but the point is that many times we can be guilty of judging the spiritual maturity of ourselves or others based on God’s allotment of specific kinds of gifts. Public speakers, toilet-scrubbers, introverted personalities, the life of the party, married, unmarried; these are all different portions that God has wisely and purposefully given to His children, for their good and for His glory. The person given the flashy gifts isn’t necessarily more spiritually mature than the one who seems like they have “unimpressive” talents. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 helps us understand that there are a variety of gifts, but the same God who sovereignly distributes gifts as He wills. And Romans 12:3-8 reaffirms the truth that “we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us” and “each of us is to exercise them accordingly.” One gift is not more valuable or more worthy of praise than another. And if a person has been given a “desirable” gift, it doesn’t elevate that person to be automatically more mature.

1 Peter 4:10-11 instructs Christians to employ the gifts God has given in order to serve one another as good stewards of the grace of God, “so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” A spiritually mature person not only recognizes his God-given talents, personalities, and gifts, but also understands that God is looking for faithfulness to exercise those gifts to make much of God.

Christ Must Increase

Having knowledge of the Bible and being gifted in certain ways does not necessarily make a person spiritually mature; it may even be a facade to cover spiritual immaturity. When God saves us, He also redeems our knowledge and gifts, so that the knowledge we obtain translates into good deeds, and gifts we have been blessed with are to be faithfully exercised to be of service to others. Hopefully it is apparent that spiritual maturity is less about how we can increase and build a resume of knowledge and gifts, but rather how God can use us to be a blessing to others. May we seek to grow in knowledge of God for more effectiveness in good works, and utilize our giftedness in faithfulness to God’s apportionment, so that Christ may increase, and we may decrease (John 3:30).