What Is Spiritual Maturity? A Biblical Look at Growing Deeper in the Christian Faith

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When I was younger, I was in a church I’d never been to before. It was small, but full. The people were friendly and the pastor was enthusiastic. But as he preached a young child was crying, growing more and more unconsolable as time went on.

If you’ve been in church for any length of time, you know that most would expect the parents to leave the room. To remove the distraction. After what seemed like an eternity of battling to hear the pastor, he stopped and looked at the room, which was growing more and more irritated.

He said, “Don’t let that baby crying steal your focus. We all know babies cry. Bring yourself up, Church!”

And as I sat there in a church full of strangers, I thought, “Wow. That is an amazing leader.”

You see, the majority of western society would have gotten their feathers ruffled by such a correction. Offense could have set in. People could have claimed their right to a peaceful environment to “grow deeper in the Lord”.

But instead, this man called them up to greater. To put off their comfort and peace. To train their eyes and ears to have singleness of focus for the Lord.

He called his church to maturity, mercy, grace and love.

What Is Spiritual Maturity According to the Bible?

I appreciated that man’s leadership and call to his congregation to greater maturity in Christ. Training our eyes and ears to the Lord is something we desperately need to learn.

How do we grow our faith deeper? It’s not by being comfortable.

It’s by overcoming distraction.

What do you need to train in your life to have singleness of focus for the Lord, even amidst distraction?

Do you need to train your mind to put away the to-do list? Do you need to train your emotions to put away worry and anxiety?

Do you need to train your ear to drown out the noise and voices of the world so you can hear the only One who matters?

Do you need to train your spirit to put the lies of the devil to death and claim the truth of God’s Word?

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.

They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭26‬

You see, we always have two competing choices in our reaction to others that impact our maturity in Christ. One choice grows us deeper with the Lord and the other fights to separate us from Him.

• Love v. Hate
• Joy v. Discontentment
• Peace v. Worry
• Faith v. Fear
• Patience v. Frustration
• Mercy v. Anger
• Kindness v. Meanness
• Gentleness v. Harshness
• Self-Control v. Immature Reaction

So the next time you really want to create an environment that fosters spiritual maturity and growth in the Lord, don’t worry about cleaning it up.

Let it be messy. Let it be hard. Let it be noisy and inconvenient.

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬-‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Common Misunderstandings About Spiritual Maturity

Spiritually mature people are not mature because their environment is perfect and comfortable. They are mature in spite of an uncontrolled environment.

God has never called his people to comfort. He’s called them to higher and to greater. To a focus on the Lord, and a goal to bring His kingdom to earth. A focus that is so strong that it pushes away every distraction around them.

And that requires sacrifice to self.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

In Hebrews 5 the author is doing what I saw a modern day preacher do. He is calling people to greater maturity in Christ.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.

You need milk, not solid food! 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. Hebrews 5:7-10

I’ve seen people who’ve spent decades in the church and know the Bible front to back, continue to feed on milk their whole lives.

Biblical spiritual maturity isn’t about how long you’ve been a Christian or how often you’ve attended church. It’s not even about knowledge about the Bible.

Instead, this is a call to Christians to graduate to solid food. Determine what needs to happen in your life to stop being an infant in Christ.

If you need help in knowing where to start, I’d encourage you to read this short series that breaks it down into smaller manageable chunks of information.

I can’t wait to hear how you’re growing in Christ. Keep your focus on the King of Kings, my friend.

Be blessed

~Sarah

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