Maturity

Praise Him, Chosen Women!

I hope you moms thoroughly relished in all that May brought to acknowledge your nurturing labor of love. Although Mother's Day is set aside to honor you, please know that your selfless acts of mothering are appreciated all year long!

This month my thoughts are focused on the subject of MATURITY. Not aging -- but maturing. The two are not always synonymous, you know.

What made me really think about my own maturity was a situation that arose through my work. One day last month I headed out to court early one morning with an expectation that I would be recommending that a father be allowed to retain custody of his two small children. To my surprise, when I arrived at the courthouse I heard the Lord speak into my spirit, "That is not the right decision. You are not here to recommend that he be allowed to keep the children -- but rather that he NOT be allowed to keep the children!"

I was in shock. As I have written to you so often, I have paid a great price to walk in a place that I distinctly hear the Voice. Once you come into that place, you are not afforded the opportunity to then pretend that you cannot hear God's Voice. I can assure you that I did want to pretend that day. I did not want to be responsible for doing what I heard the Lord tell me that morning. In fact, I had already implied to the man that I would be making a recommendation in his favor.

I walked into the juvenile courthouse and met with the man. And, as I talked to him I soon came to discern that he was lying to me about some important details of his situation. It also became clear to me why the Lord had impressed upon me that I would have a very hard task to complete that morning -- and I soon understood the reasons why.

Now -- here comes the maturity. I had been working with this father for some time, and today his mother showed up! I had never met her. She obviously loved her son and grandchildren. When I interviewed her, all of the concerns that I discerned were confirmed. So, I breathed a sigh of relief thinking, "Mom is here to save the day -- she is going to testify and she will be able to tell the court what is going on and they will take it from there!"

I thought I was going to catch a break that day. I thought that the hard task would bypass me. I thought the gentleman's mom was going take on the hard task. But, as I looked in her eyes, I once again heard the Voice. I found myself telling her, "Oh, you want ME to tell the court. You need me to be the target of your son's anger. You cannot weather it -- you need me to stand in your place." Having her thoughts spoken back to her caused her to cry -- and I understood then what I had to do.

My assignment was to take the bullet -- to take the blow -- to be the object of anger and scorn. That mother needed me to do the hard thing that she could not. And in that moment I realized that I had attained another level of maturity.

I did what was required of me that day. And I did have to take some bullets and fiery darts . . . but I believe God's will was done.

Part of becoming mature in Christ means at times that you "swear to your own hurt and change not" (Ps. 15:9) -- in other words, you do what you've got to do even when it hurts. Even if it will make you less popular and not the 'flavor of the month', you obey God. Even if it means they regard you as 'holier than thou' or 'churchy', you obey God. Even if you are regarded as conservative and intolerant -- you obey. Even when you simply do not want to you do it anyway because you have come to understand that it is simply not about you; it's about Jesus.

That day at the courthouse God gave me a gift after it was all said and done. When I told that father what I intended to report to court he was outraged and angry. The court followed my recommendations, and his children were not returned to him. But before he left that place that father looked me in my eyes and hugged me. He acknowledged that he was not in the place that he should be. He promised me that he was going to do what he needed to do to be found worthy of parenting his precious children. And you know what -- I believe Him.

Are you willing to take an unpopular stand so that someone will be challenged to live a better life? Or is it too important for you to be liked?  My dear sisters, meditate on these scriptures that speak to us about maturing (prospering, growing, increasing in godliness of character) in Christ:

Psalm 1 BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.  2 But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.3 And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity]

Matthew 5:48 ~ You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Luke 8:14 ~ And as for what fell among the thorns, these are [the people] who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked and suffocated with the anxieties and cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not ripen (come to maturity and perfection).

Romans 5:4 ~ And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.