The Growth Journey of a Maturing Christian

With these choices in mind I began to ponder on my own personal Christian faith and maturity journey.

I think there are various things that mark a genuinely maturing Christian. First and foremost is practicing the Word of God in every area of their life. A person maturing in the Lord, understand that being a Christian is not compartmentalized to a church building or their bible time in the morning. What they learn from The Word of God or even from a healthy church, is being applied into their life. From their heart they are living for God and for His glory.

And as they live a life inspired by God’s Word, they are trained by both experience and scripture. Hebrews 5:13 says, the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. The more a Christian puts the Word of God into practice, the more they learn from it and grow through the experience of applying it. The Word becomes living and active, giving wisdom to divide what is spiritual from what is fleshly. It gives wisdom to see what is good, better, or best. It gives the capacity to discern what is The Truth or what is the twisted truth. 

As a young genuine Christian continues to live out the word of God they will naturally become curious and give careful study to elementary teachings like salvation, baptism, communion, faith and works, etc. And they will have an active faith to do these things. Hebrews 5:13 indicates that a developing Christian, will grow from living on milk to living on solid food, by being acquainted to the teaching about righteousness according to God’s perspective – not culture or human wisdom.

They will also grow in the depth of understanding of minor matters that will be observed in the church or other cultures as you live out the Christian faith. Some of these minor matters may include how some Christians celebrate birthdays, but others will not. Some Christians may celebrate holidays, others will not. Some Christians may attend church, others will not. Some Christians may celebrate the sabbath, others will not. In the body of Christ there is diversity and freedom to worship God in your unique way, while remaining centered around the gospel.

Personally, Romans 14 has been such an eye-opening chapter for my husband and I to study. In regards to holidays and birthdays, there have been different perspectives that have been taught by pastors, books, and YouTube videos that supposedly share about historical pagan practices. Mentors with their own opinions and convictions, and also church history to consider. All these different resources have various opinions or information regarding holidays, birthdays, attending a traditional church, etc.

When I was a younger Christian this was extremely confusing to me. But when I read Romans 14, I felt incredibly relieved to understand what God’s Word said about disputable matters. I no longer wasted my time to find “the truth” about the celebration of birthday or any holiday for that matter. As Romans 14:22 says it, I felt at peace ”to keep my faith between myself and God” in regards to what I think about birthdays and holidays. With that being said, I know there has been more unity and less judgment with other Christians who hold different convictions. This Christian unity has only been mutually edifying and has helped my husband and I to grow in deeper relationship with each other and with other friends (Romans 14:19). I know I wouldn’t have the blessing of some of the Christian friendship in my life if it wasn’t for God’s Word giving me confidence in understanding Christian liberties. Colossians 2.

Christian Unity

God has opened my eyes to realizing that anything can be a worship to God if it does not go against His commands and if it is done with a heart which is set-out to glorify Him.  Having Christian relationships with people who think differently than me has been very impactful in my growth in the Lord, because I have observed and learned from the way God has worked in their life through their unique and impossible circumstances.  It is always exciting to hear the God stories of others, while also being reminded of how God can use all things for His glory and our spiritual growth. 

Another way I have learned through Christian unity with others is in stewarding my time well. With house projects, running errands, having children, etc. I felt personally convicted to be very intentional with the specific people in our local community.  I saw God personally guide me to the friendships that He wanted me to focus on in this season of our lives.  In doing this, I really needed to learn to steward my time well in order to be faithful to all of God’s specific guidance in my life. 

Since I am not a social butterfly who has a large capacity of social energy, dividing our time always feels quite challenging, but I know that this ongoing challenge is needed if we want to stay faithful to God’s instruction in regards to His church-body. Hebrews 10:25 says, and let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching. Most people think this scripture is all about attending church, however, when studied and read in context you will see a deeper meaning. Kristen LaValley explained it beautifully, “it’s about participating in each other’s lives as the family of God”. 

Everything from cleaning our home to doing fun activities with my husband, the kids, or our friends, are all enjoyable spiritual disciplines to worship and honor God. Having fun with others goes beyond just entertainment, but rather it’s about maintaining and growing our relationship with people who love God, which God has directed into our life.  

All this to say, that a maturing Christian will look at their daily activities or social calendars with a different perspective than that of the world. It is a perspective that is centered around glorifying God, rather than trying to glorify yourself, be a people-pleaser who over-schedules, or simply seeks entertainment.

Growing a Confident Faith

In a maturing Christian they grow more confident in their faith and trust in God because they’ve witnessed God continually working in all the circumstances of their life, as well as, in their inner person/character. They grow in depth of understanding that He is the Potter and we are the clay being worked in His hands.

As I’ve grown in my faith, I don’t just know this because I’m quoting a few scriptures which declares this (Isaiah 29:16; 64:8). I actually feel this in the depths of my spirit that I am in The Potter’s hands and it has built a deep confidence in me that I have never known, until a few years after I was born-again.

The more I’ve grown in my faith and trust in God the Potter, the more I have grown to be self-confident with humility, because of the customized work God has done in me. In the past, I operated from a place of self-criticism and feeling as if I was inadequate. Having no confidence in the person God created  me to be, spiraled into taking destructive paths, mostly due to emptiness and insecurity.  For an example, I heavily relied on alcohol, relationships, revealing clothes, social media, and other people’s opinions or acceptance of me to boost my (false) confidence. 

God doesn’t want us to live our lives with a lack of appreciation of the unique characteristics He gifted you with. There should be a healthy amount of self-confidence of the unique and beautifully-complex human God created, shaped, and framed you to be. This humble self-confidence develops from an understanding of God’s creativity and perspective of you, and you believe Him, when He says, “it is good”.

When I couldn’t comprehend His deep love and delight in His creation of me, I groped through a dark season, to find the hem of Jesus. Through this season, I became so aware of the deeply embedded insecurities of my personality…the very core of who I am. Isaiah 29:16 basically sums up the negative and faithless thoughts of my heart that I had of God, which I was so blind to.  In my deep insecurity of being what people call an “introvert”, I thought that God The Potter doesn’t understand what He’s doing with His clay (his creation and design of me). Through many disheartening misunderstandings, the eyes of my heart were enlightened to see my insecurity and my disbelief in God as the Great Potter, and what His word declares about His creation of me.  Through this conviction process, I was stripped of any false-confidence I clung to and graciously redirected by God to find an authentic, true, and real confidence in Him. 

Several years after being born-again, I knew something inside me was healing when I could genuinely say that I was comfortable, content, and even grateful to be be gifted with an introverted-type of personality. Then, out from comfort and contentment, flourished true and genuine self-confidence that was not from myself, but rather from a fumbling growth of trust and a deeper faith in God Almighty, the ultimate artist and creator of all beautifully-complex people. 

My journey to having self confidence deepened my faith as I learned to trust and believe what His word said about His people, which included me. His word says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made as a unique masterpiece (Psalm 139:13-14). Psalm 18:19 says, “He rescued me because he delights in me”. It was astonishing to me ponder on the word ‘delight’. The definition of this word is, “a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy; something that gives great pleasure”.  Did you know that the creation of you, gave God great joy?  

Through this chapter, I had to learn to believe and trust God in a new way. It was a messy fumble to a better understanding of myself in Him and a better understanding who He is. For the first time in my life, I found the freedom to exercise my God-given introvertness (with some quirks), without apology. I gained a God-confidence to know in the depths of my being that living my life as I am (while also being sanctified), points to our loving creator.  I gained understanding of realizing that every person’s unique personality gives a glimpse of an image of who God is. However, in our imperfections and sin nature, we don’t always deal well with each other’s differences, and thus sometimes there are conflicts. But God is able to give wisdom with your personal circumstances or the people in your life. 

Hebrews 11:6 says, and without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that he exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. In recognizing my growth in this area of my life, I began practicing my faith-in-action in a new and deeper way. My faith to personally believe God as the Great Potter was like a spiritual growth spirt of trusting Him in a manner in which I never trusted Him before, and I know it was very pleasing to Him.  I feel as if He has given me a great reward of obtaining more maturity in my faith.  

I have experienced a miracle of being rescued from the trap of insecurity from my Savior.  I am so undeserving of the amazing gift He has given me of an authentic and healthy self-confidence. 

Zephaniah 3:17 

“The Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

Where might you have misplaced Confidence?

We each might struggle to find confidence in our faith in one way or another. Maybe some have a fragile faith and fear that if they make an honest mistake that God will forsake them. In other words, they struggle to have confidence of their salvation. Some struggle to surrender in particular areas of their life. Some struggle with crippling fear. All these different types of struggles are a lack of faith and confidence in God. However, as a maturing Christian looks back at their journey they should see their confidence in God growing, which should produce a ripple effecting of growing-confidence in other areas.

For example, in the past when I was around more extroverted people, I was timid/fearful to be myself. Having naturally introverted tendencies, I knew that I was different than them and for some reason felt shame. I felt like I needed conform my personality to theirs and talk more about anything. But now there is confidence, contentment, and trust in God, that He likes me, loves me, accepts me, and cherishes me as I am.  With that being said, I remain quiet if I don’t feel I have something meaningful or thoughtful to contribute to the conversation. 

As a maturing Christian, this growing confidence in regards to my unique personality, has dispersed itself into other areas of my life. I find that I don’t strive so much to “fit in”, but rather to be sure I am staying true to the person God created me to be with out apology and with confidence. By living out my faith in this particular way, people actually get to know me, rather than this version of myself that I use to try to create for them, in hopes to win their favor. Through this growth I have become a better listener because I’m not thinking so much about myself and how to fit-in. 

Faith is foundational to maturity

It amazes me that to be a maturing Christian, all it takes is a mustard seed of on-going active faith throughout your life. Having a mustard seed of faith will grow and eventually move mountains within a person’s heart. It makes me realize how foundational it is to have an authentic and active faith in God. Without an active faith, one would not read or study the word of God or one would not evaluate their life experiences or their feelings in the light of God’s word. By an act of faith a Christian perseveres through life’s challenges and makes changes to their life according to how scripture guides them. Having that mustard seed of faith is the most foundational because by faith you start and by faith you continue to pursue Him, so that you may “become mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4).