Harshness Toward Outsiders While Cutting Insiders Slack Grace without truth isn't grace any more than truth without grace isn't truth. And it’s a good thing for us He embodies both. Grace without truth isn’t maturity any more than truth without grace is truth.Ĭlearly, we need a Saviour on this issue. It is an incredibly difficult line to find, but we must find it. You cannot separate grace from truth anymore than you can separate truth from grace. Some ‘mature’ people on the other side of the theological spectrum avoid the truth side of the equation as though love floats with no backbone. In the same way truth isn’t truth without grace, grace isn’t grace when separated from truth. Whenever I am tempted to speak truth, I always have to come before God to ensure it is equally motivated by grace.Ĭould you imagine if we all did? Maybe you're not a truth person. (And I say this as a guy who leans on the truth side of the equation.) Yet some ‘mature’ people feel it’s okay to land on one side of the equation. He was always grace-filled as he spoke what is true…in that the truth is always designed to lead toward grace. One of the things I love most about Jesus is that truth is never separated from grace, and grace is never separated from truth. I love how John phrases the arrival of Jesus: that Jesus came filled with truth and grace. In a similar vein, being all about truth is a problem as well. Use the bible as a bridge to the culture, not as a barricade against it. ( Here’s a list of the Top 10 Things Pharisees say today.)Īnd it was never about what you know or don’t know, but about what God knows and who God loves. To do otherwise puts us on the same ground as another religious group Jesus had strong views against. Because, incidentally, last time I checked I wasn’t that righteous. I won my share of sword drills (remember those?) when I was a kid, and I take time to read and study the scriptures pretty much every day, but as far as I can tell I’m supposed to use that knowledge to function as a bridge to people, not as a barricade showing everyone else how righteous I am. Some Christians strut their biblical knowledge like it was an accomplishment. Clearly he knew what he was talking about. Since when was it a good thing to be proud of how much bible you know, and to look down on people who didn’t know?Īs Paul points out, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
In the meantime, if you want to keep growing, here are 5 signs that pass for spiritual maturity in our culture that probably show you lack it. And that process continues until you die. I’ve outlined a few of the markers of more authentic spiritual maturity in this post, and again here. Basically, it means you’re different than you were. The process of becoming more and more holy, a term, which stripped from it’s strangeness, simply means to be ‘set apart’. It has something to do with what the ancients called “sanctification”. I’m just saying there’s something broken in our dialogue and in our characterization of spiritual maturity.Īs for me personally, I would hope I’m matur ing, but have I arrived? Not a chance.ĭiscipleship is an organic, life-long process. I’m not even claiming I understand the issue entirely. 5 Signs of Spiritual Maturity…That Actually Show You Lack Itīefore I outline the list, please know I’m not claiming to be ‘mature’. I’ve been on the receiving end of that conversation many many times, because, well, our church reaches a lot of people who ordinarily don’t show up at church. In leadership circles, the dialogue often starts with a question such as “what are you doing to disciple your people?” (emphasis on disciple, often said with a deeper voice than normal) or a dismissive statement like “so you’re attracting people, but then what?”Īnd it’s almost always said condescendingly, as though some people own the maturity franchise and enjoy watching other fellow-Christ followers squirm while they try to come up with answers that will only show how immature they really are. So, to be clear, how exactly does this issue surface in conversation? Click to Tweet This is What The Conversation Sounds Like Often, what we call spiritual maturity.isn't.