Maturity

“Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance”  Hebrews 6:1

Maturity – I still love one of Rod Stewart’s songs.  The words are magical.  “I am sailing, I am sailing, Home again ’cross the sea.  I am sailing, stormy waters, To be near you, to be free.” Have you ever felt that deep inner need to be free?  Have you wept because your desire to sail across the waters felt more like being pounded by the waves than like gliding over the sea?  Now that we know that this verse is about God’s wind behind our sails and not about our feeble efforts to row, the next question is “where are we going”.  Well, Rod Stewart got it right.  We are sailing over the stormy waters toward Him and toward complete freedom.

Did you realize that God is pushing you toward maturity?  You don’t grown up by just being alive.  You need to be pushed toward the goal.  God’s wind behind your sails is driving you on toward Him.  It only blows in one direction.  Toward freedom.  No matter what storms your life may encounter, God never stops pushing you toward Him.  He wants you to be free of all those hindrances that impede your progress toward the real destiny of life:  being completely consumed by the power of the Spirit.

Jesus knew what this was like.  Remember when he came out of the Jordan after his baptism.  The gospels tell us that the Spirit of the Lord drove him into the wilderness.  On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit descended in power, driving the disciples to proclaim Jesus.  Jesus told Nicodemus that we are not in charge of the Spirit.  Like the wind, the Spirit blows where he wishes to go.  The secret is the size of your sail.  And God wants you to have a sail so big that nothing will hold you back on your journey toward Him.

Maturity, from the Greek word telos, is about completion, fully formed, finished.  Life in the Spirit moves forward.  It never stands still.  The wind is blowing, always, always toward God.  The Spirit is pressing us to let go and be pushed.  There is a destiny ahead, on the other shore.  Lift the anchors.  Feel the wind.  Breathe Him.  And go!