Christianity Defined

Spiritual maturity, that is consistent active and evident growth in your Christian faith, should be the goal of every follower of Jesus Christ. We were never meant to stay stagnant—to learn just enough of the Bible to feel good about ourselves as Christians and coast through life with less sin than others.

No, in fact the Bible speaks about our growing from glory to glory:

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Based on this account, we should see increase in our lives. As we pursue Jesus and righteousness, we should see increase in our faith, in our love for God, in our love for people, in our love for His Word, in our love for truth, in our level of obedience, in our prayer life, and in many other areas as well.

And there is no cutoff age for spiritual growth and maturity. We should be growing from glory to glory no matter how young we are, or how old we are.

But the sad reality is that so many Christians live at a decline. They start out red hot for Jesus, passionate about Him and His Word, but somewhere along the way their zeal begins to fail—and lukewarmness sets in. And an even sadder reality is it seems to be the norm—an expected outcome.

But no matter what we see happening in the lives of others, if we are determined to be Bible believers and live according to the Word of God, we are commissioned to resist what others deem as normal. We are commissioned to live in His will and according to His ways—and living a lukewarm, stagnant, unfruitful Christian life—is not God’s way.

There are scripturally grounded steps we can take in our every day lives to keep us red hot on fire for Jesus until the day He calls us home. And those same steps help us to become the spiritually mature Christians He is calling us to be right now—in a world that desperately needs to see Jesus and what it looks like to live for His Kingdom.

Walk Through Trials

Trials and hardships are inevitable. In fact in John 16:33 Jesus Himself says, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Jesus said we will have tribulation. Not we might, not it’s possible, but it’s a certainty. But He didn’t just leave us with that, He also said that in Him we could have peace and He commissioned us to be of good cheer. Why? Because He has overcome the world.

He faced trials and hardships and difficulties and unfairness and trauma and all the bad this world has to offer, but He didn’t let it break Him and He didn’t run from it, He overcame it.

There’s a word in that for those of us who are willing to hear.

How often are we faced with a trial and our immediate response is to get out of it—not go through it and overcome it. But Jesus’ trials ultimately led Him to a place of victory.

Could it be, that trials and hardships have the potential to lead us to a place of victory as well?

All throughout scripture, we find men and women going through hard and difficult times. What they chose to do and how they chose to respond in the midst of difficulty, was clearly reflected in their outcomes.

Let’s look at a few examples:

• Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Falsely accused of rape and thrown into prison. But he refused the path of hate and revenge and God elevated him to second in command over Egypt—second to Pharaoh only. And years later when he met his brothers again face to face, in humility and truth he was able to look them in their eyes and say:
  • “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Genesis 45:5-8).
• The apostle Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and faced a great deal more hardships. But He was committed to Jesus and the spreading of the Gospel. And because of his unwillingness to run from trials, difficulties, and hardships, he gave the Gospel to the gentiles and wrote a large portion of the new testament. And near the end of his life he was able to say something we all should be able to say before coming face to face with Jesus:
  • I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
• Jesus, the Son of God, was accused of being a demon, spit on, mocked, beaten ruthlessly, and murdered. And yet, He died for every sinner, arose from the dead—defeating both Satan and death, and is the Savior of the world. Jesus did not give into offense and bitterness, instead He said this:
  • And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. (Luke 23:33-34).

Joseph, Paul, and especially Jesus, lived with an awareness and understanding of truth that we all need to learn and submit to—and that is, as Jesus said, we will have tribulations in this world. That means, good things will come your way and very difficult and challenging things will come your way. This fact of life applies to every human being born into this world. But you can choose two paths through every trial:

1. Pathway number one is the most common chosen pathway. It is the path where you fight to escape the problem, ignore the problem, or overcome the problem your way. This path often leads to frustration, a victim’s mentality, spiritual decline, and regret.
2. Pathway number two is God’s chosen path for every individual. It is the path where you submit every area of your life to God, His way of living, and consistently place your trust in Him during the good times and the hard times. This path leads to truth, freedom, spiritual maturity, answered prayer, hope, joy, peace, contentment, and a fruitful life.

When you spell it out this way, it’s so clear which way is the correct path, and yet, so many people resists God’s chosen path for their lives.

They fail to understand that trials and tribulations is one of the main areas in a person’s life, that God will work through to soften our hearts, purge pride out of us, grow us in godly character, such as—patience, self-control, forgiveness, peace, humility, kindness, gentleness, and faithfulness. In other words, it is through trials and tribulation that we learn to live according to God’s way and we come to resemble Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Unlike humans who often chase comfort, God’s primary concern is not our comfort, it’s our salvation and holy character. He wants to grow us up and mature us spiritually—and facing trials and tribulation under His authority and His Lordship, doing things His way, can serve that purpose.

Change What You’re Listening To

We have so many options in regards to what we choose to listen to each day. We can easily fill our days with television, music, youtube, spotify, tiktok, instagram reels, facebook videos, and the like.

But what we choose to give our ear and attention to, is serving one purpose: It’s either drawing us closer to God and the life He has for us, or by default it’s driving us away from God and away from the life He has for us. There is no inbetween.

This is because, what you listen to will always have the strongest pull and influence on your thoughts, your imagination, your words, your behavior, and your belief system. To think that you can listen to whatever or whomever you want, and not be affected by it, is a great deception.

As followers of Jesus, we must regularly ask ourselves, “Who has my attention? Does God have my attention or does the culture?”

In other words, on an average day, if I laid my day out before me, would I find that I spend more time listening to television shows, movies, videos, and songs that don’t honor God through their words and actions, or am I being intentional about what I choose to feed myself for entertainment, for news, and for knowledge?

Because a sure fact is, they’re rarely saying the same thing. The culture pushes and supports a way of living that is contrary to what the Word of God teaches. When you allow one of those voices to be louder than the other, your life will migrate in the direction of the dominate voice.

According to Jesus, what we hear has the ability to multiply His voice in our life or subtract His voice from our life:

Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” (Mark 4:24-25).

Those who surrender their lives to God—which always includes our time and our choices—and choose to elevate God’s truth in their life through what they hear, will continue to receive and grow in biblical truth, knowledge, insight, understanding, wisdom, and revelation.

But those who fail to prioritize God, even through what they give their ear to, will not increase—and eventually, that which they had, will be lost as well.

That is startling! And yet, so many of us truly believe we can listen to any voice out there and remain red hot on fire for Jesus. That is simply not the truth.

I’d like to share a small portion of Chapter 4, “Who Are You Listening To?” from my book, Building Your Life From The Ground Up and Creating a Life You Love:

Turn the volume down. For the past few years, I’ve run an in-home daycare. One of the things I’ve noticed is that when there’s too much noise, the kids get wild. They get louder, they cry more, they have more tantrums, they’re more aggressive with the toys, it is total chaos!

But when I completely turn off the children’s music or the children’s television program, or even bring it down to just above a whisper, the atmosphere immediately improves.

Too much noise, especially at high volume, is too much for the kids to handle. They become overstimulated. Overloaded. So much so, that they simply cannot function at their best.

I don’t know about you, but I have found that the same is true for me.

Yes, I enjoy listening to Podcasts and watching YouTube videos. And I’ve gained some great wisdom through both of these sources from individuals who love Jesus and are called to help others grow in their Christian faith.

But I’ve also learned that hearing about Jesus, doesn’t replace hearing from Jesus. I’ve learned that spending quiet time in His Word, and in His presence, allowing Him to speak directly to my heart, is a necessity, and there is no substitute for it.

Because when I spend too much time consumed by the voices of others, no matter how good, true, or wise they are, like the kids in my daycare, I begin to feel overstimulated and overloaded as well.

But as soon as I turn down the noise, and turn my attention back to the Lord, my peace is restored, and I find that greater truths and greater wisdom awaits me in Him.

It’s time to prioritize God’s voice and be intentional about what you choose to listen to. If you want to grow in spiritual maturity, what you listen to for news, knowledge, and fun, matters. You can either find yourself multiplying in truth or you can find yourself in the negative.

Prioritize Your Relationship With God

Spiritually mature Christians pursuing Kingdom living are not grown out of worldly standards, ideals, and pursuits—they are grown out of a right relationship with Jesus Christ, submission to His authority and Lordship, and a commitment to pursue Him daily.

God should be our highest priority—and that truth should be reflected in our everyday lives.

We get an understanding of this when a Pharisee questioned Jesus about the greatest commandment:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40).

The first and great commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. To love God in this manner requires intentionality and consistency. It won’t just happen—it will take pursuit and effort.

We live in a world that constantly beckons our attention. On an average day, we have several responsibilities and commitments we need to tend to. On top of that we have open-ended activity and entertainment options that pull at our time, our focus, and our attention—often leaving little to no time for God.

The fact is, if God isn’t intentionally prioritized on a consistent bases, He will be pushed out of your life over and over again, until a relationship with Him is non existent.

The best example we have of prioritizing a relationship with God and putting Him first, is through the life of Jesus. Through His words and His actions we can learn how to build a right relationship with God.

Let’s look at three practices Jesus centered His life around, during His time on earth, to have and maintain a right relationship with the Father.

Jesus Knew And Obeyed The Word Of God

The Word of God was not an afterthought in the life of Jesus. Over and over again He spoke the Word of God—to combat temptation, to teach the Word to others, to show His relationship with the Father.

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” (John 11:41-42).

Jesus understood that when we get the Word of God into our lives, our minds, our hearts, our mouths, and it becomes the driving force behind our thoughts, our words, and our actions—it brings life.

The light overpowers the darkness, the clarity overpowers the confusion, the truth overpowers the deception, and freedom bursts through and eradicates captivity.

The Bible is our anchor in both spiritual maturity and a right relationship with God.

Jesus Depended On The Father And Prioritized Alone Time With Him

It was clear that Jesus didn’t spend alone time with God to be able to check it off His to do list and feel accomplished. He spent regular time with the Father each day because He needed Him. He needed His love, He needed His strength, He needed His power, He needed everything the Father offered Him—and so do we.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19).

Like Jesus, we need God for countless reasons, but one important one, is to know how to live according to His ways—for His Kingdom.

Christians are followers of Jesus, but we can’t follow what we do not see. In order to see God, we need regular time in His written Word and regular time in His presence.

Spiritually mature Christians elevate their relationship with God by prioritizing one on one time with Him. It’s in His presence that we receive everything we need.

Jesus Prioritized God’s Will Over His Own

We all have the option of living according to our own ways, our own standards, and fulfilling our own purposes or choosing to fulfill God’s will.

Jesus showed over and over again in His life, that the Father’s will was His priority.

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (John 4:31-34).

When we read the Bible, obey how it tells us to live, and give God precedence in our time, we come to know the Father’s will and His call on our individual lives. But when we fail to do these things, we become consumed with our own agenda and God’s will remains unfulfilled in our lives.

A life that is not actively seeking to fulfill God’s will, is a life that will grow stagnant and eventually succumb to spiritual decline.

Spiritual maturity should be the goal for every Christian. A lukewarm life may be the norm for some but it doesn’t have to be the norm for you. By following the Biblical pathways outlined in this article, you can grow as a Christian and remain red hot on fire for Jesus until the day you meet Him face-to-face.

As you pursue spiritual maturity be determined to:

• Walk through trials, hardship, and tribulation: God uses these moments, experiences, and seasons to mature our character and grow us as followers of Jesus.
• Be mindful of what you are listening to: Regularly ask yourself, “Who has my attention?” Are you drawn to what the culture has to say or what God has to say.
• Prioritize your relationship with God: Read the Word of God and obey it, prioritize alone time with God, and like Jesus, fulfill the Father’s will and His call on your life.

When you choose to live according to these truths, you choose the path of spiritual maturity every time!