The Christian life is a progressive movement toward spiritual maturity. Your experience of following Jesus should be taking you somewhere. The goal of your growth ought to be that you are being “transformed” into the image of the glory of God.
The question that needs to be asked is, what do spiritually mature disciples – or at least disciples who are moving toward maturity – look like? Well, some of them look like people who once did not know how to control their anger, but now they understand how to maintain self-control. Other growing Christians look like people who at one time struggled and lost against any sin that you can imagine, but now in the strength of Christ, they are living lives that are well-pleasing to God.
Spiritual maturity does not mean sinless perfection. Anybody who tells you that you can go through life and never sin has just sinned because that’s a lie. But what I am talking about is maturity, where the normal thing for you to do is bring every area of your life under the control of Jesus Christ.
So what is maturity? Very simply, it is growing to the place where you think, judge, and react biblically to every situation. When it is the rule and not the exception for you to apply the Bible to your life; when you place every area of your life under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The Bible calls it Christlikeness, because Jesus is intent on making you like Him. Who else is worthy for you to pattern your life after?
For His Kingdom,
Tony Evans
The Urban Alternative