Grow Up!

One characteristic of the Latin American dinner table is to continue the conversation after the meal is over. It is then that significant conversations take place. In today’s passage, we see that when Jesus is at the table and asks the questions, it shakes the whole person.

Jesus had a question for Peter: “Do you love me more than these?” (15). Jesus required of Peter an honest and courageous personal evaluation. It was about Peter himself, not about comparing himself to others. As so often, the process ended up hurting Peter’s feelings (17b); he had to assess his heart, and Jesus was not going to soften the hurt. Jesus’ pastoral approach had little to do with soft, feel-good psychology, and much about helping the person to grow up. Being soft would not have taken Peter to higher ground.

Juvenilization delays the maturing process by keeping the person in an adolescent mindset rather than maturing in life. Thomas E. Bergler wrote a well-researched paper about the juvenilization of North American Christianity. He defined juvenilization as “the process by which religious beliefs, practices, and developmental characteristics of adolescents become accepted as appropriate for Christians of all ages.” He demonstrated that juvenilization is manifested in all four Christian traditions he researched: evangelicals, liberals, blacks and Catholics. He saw in all of them symptoms of immaturity accepted as normal. Christians need to seek the painful path towards maturity. Accepting a juvenile appearance and lifestyle may look appealing, but does not lead to developing a spiritually mature, whole person (Eph. 4:13).

What does the Bible teach about spiritual maturity (see 1 Cor. 14:20; Col.1:28; Heb. 5:14; Jas. 1:4)? How do you grow in spiritual maturity?