Followers of Jesus are called to mature intellectually, emotionally, and morally. We are supposed to grow up.
We grow up intellectually. The Christian faith is both simple and complex at the same time, simple enough for a child to wade in yet deep enough for an elephant to drown. Clement of Alexandria said, “The word of God does not yield its message easily to every casual passerby.” It requires some effort to grow in the knowedge of God.
We grow up emotionally. Your emotional intelligence will do more to make you a success in life than your intellect and abilities. Emotional maturity is correlated to your faith. The fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, do they not sound like emotional maturity?
We grow up morally. Just as we grow physically, and grownups are taller than children, and we grow intellectually, and grownups can understand concepts that small children cannot, so also we grow in our ability to distinguish right from wrong.
In our sermon this Sunday we will talk about maturing.