Sabbath Salutations 07092010
I added to the PDF Books page the “Incredible History of God’s True Church” by Ivor Fletcher. It is a PDF that you are free to download and read. Enjoy!
For the Sabbath Salutations, I wanted to share some thinking that has been on my mind this week…
Emotional immaturity plagues society as a whole. Broken homes, the vacuum of right knowledge which is extant in modern culture, and the ever looming impact of materialism fostering a “get and take” mentality are certainly adding to the problem. Does the Bible have anything to offer in this area of maturity? Can we learn what real maturity is? How we can break free from the pressures of this world and become balanced functioning and giving adults, regardless of our possibly fractured childhoods?
Erik Erikson, originator of the theory of psychosocial development, formulated a summary theorizing various stages which he felt were critical to the maturing of the human psyche. He discussed human social development in the following stages:
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Stage
Basic Conflict
Infancy (birth to 1 year)
Hope: Trust vs. Mistrust
Toddlers (2 to 3 years)
Will: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Preschool (4 to 6 years)
Purpose: Initiative vs. Guilt
Childhood (7 to 12 years)
Competence: Industry vs. Inferiority
Adolescence (13 to 19 years)
Fidelity: Identity vs. Role Confusion
Young Adults (20 to 34 years)
Love: Intimacy vs. Isolation
Middle Adulthood (35 to 65 years)
Care: Generativity* vs. Stagnation
Maturity (Seniors, 65 years onwards)
Wisdom: Ego Integrity vs. Despair
(*Adults need to nurture something that will outlast them ie. Children, positive change benefiting others.)
Erikson’s theory emphasized becoming competent in an area of life. If each progressive stage is handled well, the person will experience a sense of self mastery. If the stage is handled poorly then the person will harbor a sense of inadequacy in that area, thus affecting the maturity of the person. While this theory is not found in scripture, the basic structure may have some merit. Stop and think about each progressive stage shown. Do any of these key words define your current stage of thinking?
The Apostle Paul spoke about maturity in this way: “…speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). How do we do this?
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” (Philippians 3:13-15).
The first critical step to growing in maturity is to come to full repentance and to seek to forget those things that held you captive in the world. Those decisions that led you further and further into wrong thinking in the first place. Once a full and deep repentance for all your sins has been achieved, there should be no more looking back. Full steam ahead, while trusting in and seeking the will of God, is the only way that anyone can truly overcome and grow spiritually. The only way that anyone can come to a mature state of mind and behavior. That means that certain thoughts and thought processes must be identified, isolated, and eliminated. How does this occur?
The second critical step toward maturity is to do as Paul instructed the believers at Corinth stating, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11). This phrase “put away” is from the Greek word katargeo and means “to put away, to render inoperative, inactive, or powerless; to remove the meaning and significance from; to cause a person to be free from something that has been binding.” The childish thought processes that never simply drop off once we reach a certain age, but rather linger on until they are rendered inactive and replaced with healthy and Biblically based thought processes, must be replaced. This takes effort and can only truly be accomplished through Bible Study and prayer to God. These are two powerful tools that God has given mankind to overcome and grow, in essence, to mature “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).
Do you suffer from painful emotions from traumas in the past? You’re not alone. There are many even in the Church that still suffer from the lingering effects of a traumatic childhood. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can have a powerful impact on these latent emotions by exercising free moral agency and choosing to think differently, but it does take work. It takes commitment to the way of life that God has called us to…the way of give!
Ultimately, maturity is giving. God is the great Giver! He wants us to become like He is and the way we do that is to seek to give of our time, talents, and treasure. If we forsake the way of get, the way of this world, the way of our human nature, and begin seeking to put away the childish forms of thinking that we have developed over a lifetime of doing things our own way, we will be able to overcome, to grow and achieve a level of maturity that is only possible through a direct relationship with God.
Have a wonderful and profitable Sabbath! Take care.
