Maturity

In some ways maturity - as in growing old - is over rated. Some people don't age well and lose all sense of fun in life. Some people forget how to laugh or they forget that life doesn't revolve around them. It can be hard getting older as many older people suffer from hunger and pain and fear of death. I see that first hand as I volunteer with the local Meals on Wheels and with a hospice organization. I'm not thinking of them but of the grumpy old men and women you encounter in various places. Their maturity in age often makes them hard to love.

It is important that we come to a time when we grow up and we put away the childish irresponibilities of youth and begin to take on the responsibilities of adulthood to work and manage our money and take care of our stuff. But we never need to lose the childlike wonder at the magnificence of God's creation. We don't need to lose the childlike faith that trusts completely.

Our walk toward spiritual maturity takes time but we should be showing signs of growing up in our faith. The Israelites had been gone from Egypt only a short time when God decided Pharaoh needed another lesson in who God is. The Israelites felt trapped as they saw the Egyptians bearing down on them. "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." (Exodus 14:11-12)

Aren't we all a little like that at the beginning of our walk with Jesus? When times get hard, we question why God is letting this happen to us. We may even say what's the point of following Jesus if He's going let THIS happen to me. Jesus said in the parable of the sower "...the seed is the word of God...what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature..." (Luke 8:9-15) The cares of life...all those tough times and hard decisions  with hich we are often confronted.

Part of growing toward maturity in our walk with Jesus is looking at our circumstances through God's eyes. Twice God told Moses, "I shall get glory...and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD." (Exodus 14:4; 17-18) And it happened. As the Egyptians realized they were in a bad situation, they said, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians." (Exodus 14:25) 

God saved Israel with the miraculous parting of the Red Sea and the subsequent drowning of the Egyptian soldiers. "Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses." (Exodus 14:31) God intended, all along, to save Israel but that is almost a like footnote to God getting glory. That is true in our lives as well. God doesn't rescue us for us but for His glory, so we will believe in Him and have a story to tell of His greatness.