The Measure of Maturity

Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. -Philippians 3:15

I'm an achiever. I like to figure things out and get things done. I like having all the details accounted for and organized - just so.

Mostly, this is a positive thing. The problem is that it is taking me an awfully long time to learn that you can't treat Christianity like an algebra problem. You don't figure it out. You believe.

In the verse above, Paul has just got done saying that he hasn't got it all figured out, and proceeds to exhort the Philippians to think the same way. Startlingly, this is his definition of maturity - not mastery, but admitted non-mastery!

This is a tough concept for me. I had the experience last week of "God revealing that also" to me. It wasn't pretty. God doesn't reveal His truth on a banner behind a blimp - He reaches deep into your soul and performs spiritual surgery. It's messy and it hurts, but He's not going to settle for anything less than everything.

It's amazing how easily I start thinking that God is only interested in my sin. But everything means everything, and the reality is that He wants me to give Him my righteousness too. In fact, He wants to get me to the place where it isn't about me at all. "This is the will of God, your sanctification." Sanctification is total identification with Jesus Christ - an immersion of our individuality in His glory. "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another."

When God corners me like this, I am obliged to concede that as a Christian, I am terribly clumsy most of the time. The strange thing is that's okay. The problem arises, not when I'm perverse, but when I pretend to be perfect. "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains."

The only time we really get it is when we admit that we don't.

I want to experience the promise. God wants me to embrace the process.
I want to get to the destination. God wants me to rejoice in the journey.
I want to be a spiritual superhero. God wants me to accept my limitations.
I want to graph grace. God wants me to grab grace.

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