Spiritual Maturity

"When we were children, we thought and reasoned as children do.  But when we grew up, we quit our childish ways."  [1 Corinthians 13:11]

Have you ever noticed that kids typically want to be "grown up," even when they haven't yet earned the title?  They can't wait until they are older, but don't always want to accept the maturity that's supposed to go with age.  As I was writing notes on 1 Corinthians 13 for a Wednesday Night Bible Study, I was struck by the significance of Paul's words to the church folk in Corinth.  They had been misbehaving, placing a lot of energy in their new-found spiritual gifts (knowledge, tongues, prophecy, miracles, generosity), but they apparently weren't doing a very good job of simply loving each other.  There was division in the church based on the very spiritual gifts God had given them – abusing the gift of tongues, envious of each others gifts, selfishness, impatience – the kind of behavior that disgraces the One who gave the gifts.  Spiritual gifts, no matter how exciting and wonderful, no matter how much fun they are...are useless and even destructive if they are not shared in love.  Paul tells the church that they are just being noisy gongs and clanging cymbals, that they are of no use to the kingdom, if they choose to simply run around flashing their gifts without having any love for each other in their hearts.  If the gifts of God are worth a fortune, the grace of God is immeasurable.  And God's grace is best seen in the love He shares with us and the love we share with one another.

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