Maturing in Christ

“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings

about Christ and go on to maturity…”

Hebrews 6:1

 

                When I became a mother the first time at age seventeen I had no clue on how to raise a child. A year later I had another child and still didn’t have much understanding. Being raised in a dysfunctional home didn’t exactly provide me with healthy tools on parenting. Unfortunately, I made some major mistakes. Jump ahead twenty-three years later and I’m a believer, a counselor who has worked twenty years with children, and a new mom of a two and four year old in my forties!  I still make mistakes as a parent, but I’ve learned a lot since my teens due to two important things; knowledge and practice.

                When I became a believer in my mid-twenties, it felt like I’d walked into a different world. I didn’t understand much of what I read in the Bible, had a ton of questions, and sometimes felt disconnected from other believers who seemed to know so much more than I. Many times I wanted to just give-up because I felt so out of place.  Now, nineteen years later, I write books for a living about the Bible and related topics.  That’s a big jump in a short time isn’t it?  I meet new believers all the time that feel exactly the way I did when I first got saved. The key to maturing and growing in Christ is found in the same two things that helped me become a better parent.  As I continued to read the Bible, ask questions of more mature believers, and pray for God to help me understand His ways, I began to “get it”.  And the more I’ve read over the years, the more I’ve continued to grow – that’s because the Bible is a book of never-ending knowledge.  I can reread a passage today that I’ve read for years and get a deeper, more personal meaning than I’ve received previously.

                When you become a Christian you don’t automatically know and understand all there is to the faith. It takes time, practice, perseverance, prayer and God’s strength to help us overcome our old nature and learn how to walk in our new nature. More mature believers need to give them the grace and “room” to make mistakes and the time that’s inevitably necessary for them to grow – just like God gave them as “baby” believers.  The key is not to give up.

                One of the greatest tools over the years that have helped me in understanding the Bible has been a book on customs of the Bible.  In it I learned things like why you don’t put new wine in an old wineskin (because the gases in the new wine expand and will break the old wineskin that has already been stretched to its max); I learned the meanings behind the stories in the Bible and in doing so, it helped me understand the stories. An important thing to note here is that I took time and dedicated myself to reading and learning.  You can do that through a good Bible Study, a small group, being discipled by a more mature believer and finally, by practicing a daily quiet time.

               The Body of Christ is a group of believers that are both mature and immature.  No matter where we fit in, we never stop growing and learning, and there will always be room to know more.