Have you ever been impatient concerning your spiritual growth? This impatience can produce frustration. The reason some of us get discouraged in our maturity is that we see ahead. Discouragement comes when we know how things should be in our life and in others, and because of our lack of maturity we do not see the fulfillment of that desired end. Discouragement also comes when we know the callings God sets before us but the fulfillment is far away.
I heard a saying, “immature is not impure.” We see our immaturity and we beat ourselves up over it. As we hear God’s present truth, we see a more mature way God wants us to walk. The danger is seeing it, but we do not walk in it yet, so we get frustrated. When my son was eight years old, he wanted to be an adult; he yearned to be an adult, experiencing the things of adulthood. What he did not realize, but as adults we do realize—adulthood is not what it’s cracked up to be. Spiritually, we want to grow up and experience adulthood, and yet are merely eight years old in areas of our life. We think, “If we were just an adult all will be well.” Adulthood is a time of great freedom to do what we want. It is a time when we have the privilege to do things we could not do before. Nevertheless, it is a time when we become accountable on a much larger scale—a time of responsibility. You are destined to be a mature adult Christian, but it is your choice. It is the way leading to life, but not all choose to ascend to this higher calling. From a child’s perspective, adulthood possesses many advantages, but a mature adult sees the responsibilities alongside of the advantages. A child should never undertake the accountability of adulthood because they have not sufficiently experienced the dealings of life.
As child Christians, we want the adult Christian experience, yet we have not sufficiently experienced the dealings of the Holy Spirit. My advice to my son was to enjoy the maturity level he was walking and yet be continuing an habitual walk towards adulthood. It is needful to view what adulthood looks like, its advantages, its rewards, but also its sufferings and trials. It is needful to know that when you finish—accountability is much greater. Scripture says, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.” When you become a Christian, this principle is amplified. As you grow in the Lord, God deals with your tongue, causing you to release control of it, for His good purposes.
As you grow, God becomes the governor of your tongue. So, as you arrive at adulthood, you see God and the hosts of heaven performing what His adult offspring are saying; as the scripture says, “The power of the tongue results in good or evil.” Because of the higher accountability level, as you speak, the consequences of unruliness are greater. This is the principle we see in the world system, yet it is more important in the nature of spiritual life. The best example in scripture relating to this principle is the two witnesses of Revelation. They must utter forth judgments against their enemies “as often as they will.” God must undoubtedly trust them in the area of their tongue. This level of trust and accountability comes through discipline and journeys into God’s wilderness. Growth comes as we respond to this fire as one revealing Christ, the mature One, instead of the pitching a fit conduct seen in babies.
An excerpt from “Temple Builders: The High Calling”
John Robert Lucas
