5. Maturity takes time and is not linear.
It would be great if there was instant maturity in faith and in life. But it never works that way.
You can’t expect a 3-year-old to have the maturity of a 13-year-old, or expect a 23-year-old to have the maturity of a 43-year-old. When you place expectations on people that they are just not able to bear, you crush or confuse them.
And yet, we do that in the church all the time. People grow and mature over time. And our progress isn’t always as linear as a 101, 201, 301 progression would make it. In fact, I know some 23-year-olds who are more mature than some 43-year-olds.
Expose new Christians to the love of God and community, to great teaching, great relationships and solid accountability, and over time, many will grow into very different people than they were when they first came to Christ. They may grow at different rates and in different measures, but I believe Jesus talked about that. Just don’t judge them after a few months or even a few years.
6. Christian maturity was never about you anyway.
Christian maturity has never been about you anyway. It is certainly not about how awesome you are compared to others, how smart you are, how righteous you are or how holy you are.
It is about Jesus. And it is about others.
It was never about you anyway.
7. Love compels us.
If you love the world, how can you ignore it? Jesus said the authentic mark of his followers is love. He defined the primary relationship between God and humanity as one of love. The truth he ushered in is inseparable from love.
The primary motivation for evangelism and discipleship is the same; it is love. That should characterize both the discussion about evangelism and discipleship and also the way we go about both.
This isn’t an exhaustive treatment of discipleship and evangelism, but in the time it takes to sip a coffee I hope it helps in some way to advance the conversation about evangelism and discipleship in your church. And if we advanced our understanding of discipleship in the church, maybe the church and our culture would be transformed.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
