Craving Maturity in Christ Part 4

Mature Choices Bring Blessings

Maturity can sometimes be measured by the choices you make and the foundation from which you make those choices.

1 John 4:19 ESV

We love because he first loved us.

God made a choice to fashion us in His likeness and image and put His breath in us. And even after we sinned against Him, He still chose to love us.

Genesis 3:6 ESV

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Adam and Eve made a choice. Then a series of more bad choices. And those choices cost them and all of us. That first choice man made cost God His only begotten Son. That choice continues to have an impact on all of creation even unto our sons and daughters.

Joshua 24:15 ESV

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua made a choice and He put that choice before all of Israel as God had done through Moses. As for Joshua, he and his children chose to honor and serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:31 ESV

Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.

But as for much of Israel, by the third generation Israel had once again chosen to no longer serve the Lord and live according to His ways.

Judges 2:10 ESV

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Choice is a power that God gave us. But God also gave to us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, a tool with that choosing power. It is like a Ryobi tool and 18 volt lithium battery. The tool itself is cheap but the battery is expensive. Why? Because it cost little to produce the tool but a lot to create that lithium battery. And without the battery the tool is worthless. The battery to good choices is godly discernment.

Discernment is defined as  the process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment with the faculty of the mind by which a person distinguishes and reasons one thing from another. Apart from the Word of God and Holy Spirit, your discernment powers are like using a dead lithium battery to jump start your car.

Hebrews 5:14 ESV

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Good discernment does not just come innately. It is learned and developed. Training in good discernment first comes with choosing to learn godly discernment. Good discernment develops maturity as one practices it throughout life. It is developed by experiences that are the result of good choices opposed to bad ones.

The seed of discernment has been within you from childhood. If you touch a hot stove and burn your hand you quickly learn to discern that touching hot stoves is a bad choice. Then you spend a lifetime trying to figure out ways to play with fire and not get burned. I mean that in a moral sense.

One does not have to experience bad choices to learn and develop discernment. Instead, they could choose to observe the choices and consequences and outcomes of choices in other people’s lives and then recognize the alternate choices to be made. They then could choose wisely.

Maturity is more than the ability to choose but the ability to make the right choices. The right choices are those that are in alignment with the will of God.

Some people make choices everyday void of having learned and practiced good discernment. These choices include financial choices, relational choices, work choices, choices with their words, habitual choices, and even moral choices.

Discernment is often driven by some fundamental characteristics (Bad/Spiritual Immaturity or Good/Spiritual Maturity):

Spiritual Immaturity

(Characterized by self-centeredness, impulsivity, and lack of awareness)

Selfish want

Childish motives

No consideration of others

No consideration of God’s desire

No consideration of value

A lack of understanding

Refusal to receive counsel

Emotional reaction

Fleshly appetites and cravings

Not considering the impact

Not considering the consequences

Spiritual Maturity

(Characterized by God-centeredness, wisdom, and intentional living)

Selfless desire / altruistic intent

Mature motives / wise intentions

Thoughtfulness toward others / compassion

Seeking God’s will / alignment with His desires

Recognition of value / honoring what matters

Understanding / discernment

Receptiveness to correction and counsel

Measured, Spirit-led response / self-control

Spiritual discipline / mastery over fleshly desires

Awareness of impact on others

Foresight / consideration of consequences

Simple Teaching Summary

Immaturity asks: “What do I want right now?” What do I gain?” It is driven by love of flesh, love of self, and love for the world and the things in it. It recognizes only one’s limited knowledge and understanding and chooses based on fleshly appetites and ambitions.

Maturity asks: “What honors God and benefits others in the long run?” “How do I put God first prefer others above myself?” It is driven by love for God and desire to please Him by loving others and denying self. It recognizes one’s need for God and His divine wisdom in surrender to His will.

Christ made a mature choice and in doing so demonstrated true spiritual maturity. He chose to surrender His will to that of the Father’s and surrender His own life as the ultimate sacrifice for our redemption, forgiveness and freedom from the powers of sin and death that came as a result of Adam’s poor discernment.

There are blessings to learning, practicing and applying good discernment in your life in Christ.

Psalm 1:1–6 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Mature choices bring blessings.