Recently I read in the news about a man in Manchester who was a sci fi fan, who had built up a huge collection of toys from Star Wars, including light sabers.
He kept arguing with his wife, and eventually she destroyed his collection. He was so mad at her, he killed her.
So what can we conclude from this?
The husband was obviously very immature still, wanting to play with his toys rather than live in the real world. His wife was also immature, for destroying his collection. He also claims that she had threatened to kill him while he was sleeping.
If they were both that immature, then why were they ever married? They were obviously a complete mis-match, and neither of them were mature enough for the responsibilities of marriage.
So what of ourselves? Are we mature enough? Regardless of our current marital status, are we mature enough to marry Christ?
When Christ returns, He will marry His Church. We know that, it’s in Revelation.
But there is a period of time to go yet, before that marriage will take place.
In the meantime, what is going to happen with us?
Turn to Revelation 19:6–8 which reads:
“I heard what sounded like the noise from a large crowd, like the noise of raging waters, like the noise of loud thunder, saying, ‘Hallelujah! The Lord our God, the Almighty, has become king. Let us rejoice, be happy, and give him glory because it’s time for the marriage of the lamb. His bride has made herself ready. She has been given the privilege of wearing dazzling, pure linen.’ This fine linen represents the things that God’s holy people do that have his approval.” (God’s Word Translation).
So when Christ returns, we see a rejoicing from a large crowd, or a great multitude — these will be the people who come out of the Great Tribulation, who did not have the Holy Spirit, who are not a part of the Firstfruits but repented when they heard the preaching of the Two Witnesses. They are happy because the Church, which is the Bride of Christ, will be ready for the marriage.
But we see that the Bride has made herself ready. She gets to wear the pure linen, because of doing those things that have God’s approval, i.e. the things that please God.
So how does the Bride make herself ready?
One thing to consider is to be mature.
1 Corinthians 14:20 states: “Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature” (NKJV).
The Dictionary.com website defines mature as:
“Fully developed in body or mind, as a person” when used as an adjective, and “to complete or perfect” and “to bring to full development” as a verb.
So the act becoming mature is to become complete and perfect, being fully developed. This is one way of making ourselves ready for our marriage to Christ.
There are times when some Christians do not behave in a mature way. We might expect that from a new or young Christian, but when people have been in the Church a long time, we expect to see some sign of maturity that comes from experience and age, along with wisdom and a certain expectation of a high standard of behaviour.
When a man who has been a Christian for a long time decides to take another member to court for an alleged action that may or may not have happened, what does that say about that man’s maturity?
So what if that were happening with a long-time elder in high authority in church group, having a lawsuit against another member in another country who now attends a different church group, and thus the elder sees an opportunity to attack a former associate in order to benefit either himself or his group. This is not maturity — this is corruption!
A sign of maturity is that a person will not engage in corruption or try to attack another person.
Psalm 15:1-3 tells us:
“LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart; he who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend” (NKJV).
We see that to dwell with God, a person must walk uprightly and speak the truth, and not do evil against others.
There are many aspects to being mature, and right behaviour towards others is one thing a mature person should have.
If someone does you wrong, why would you retaliate?
In Matthew 5:38–40 Christ tells us:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also” (NKJV).
A mature person does not react badly to provocation. In immature person, if someone hits them, will immediately hit back at the person without thinking. A mature person stops and considers the situation carefully. There may be times when someone hits you and you need to run away, and at other times you have to take it on the chin. Maturity and wisdom are needed to decide what to do, but a knee-jerk reaction is not a mature response.
Of course your situation may be someone taking you to court. Then you have a duty to respond and defend yourself, and tell the truth, but not to lie about the person or what happened, nor to seek revenge. What if someone wrongs you, should you take that person to court? If they are a brother, i.e. a church member, what do we read in the Bible?
“When one of you has a complaint against another, how dare you go to court to settle the matter in front of wicked people. Why don’t you settle it in front of God’s holy people? Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? So if you’re going to judge the world, aren’t you capable of judging insignificant cases? Don’t you know that we will judge angels, not to mention things in this life?” (1 Corinthians 6:1–3, God’s Word Translation).
Whatever the situation, the mature approach would be to treat others with respect, and try to understand why they are doing what they doing, which may involve some dialogue and asking questions, without being quick to judge or jump to conclusions.
“But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!” (1 Corinthians 6:6–8, NKJV).
But some Christians are quick to dismiss the Scriptures, stating that the person they are suing is not actually a brother.
“It may be that some people will not listen to what we say in this letter. Take note of them and don’t associate with them so that they will feel ashamed. Yet, don’t treat them like enemies, but instruct them like brothers and sisters.” (2 Thessalonians 3:14–16, God’s Word Translation).
Even if a person behaves badly, and you cannot associate with them because of bad behaviour, it is only right to still regard them as brothers and sisters, rather than enemies.
As we get older and certainly more experienced in life and as a Christian, as should be maturing.
Children start off immature and grow up, eventually becoming mature, but it’s a long slow process.
The Apostle Paul at times had to address Church members as if they were children, behaving in an immature way, such as in 1 Corinthians 3:1–3,
“My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That’s why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned. So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot, because you are not yet spiritual. You are jealous and argue with each other. This proves that you are not spiritual and that you are acting like the people of this world.” (Contemporary English Version).
I hope that we are all trying to be mature, and not immature like the examples I mentioned earlier.
There are other things to consider in becoming mature, so maybe consider these points as you go about your life, and whether you react in a mature way or an immature way to events that occur.
For example, if someone pushes in front of you in a queue, do you make a scene, or do you refrain from doing anything immature and remain calm?
If you drive, and you get stuck at a red light for a while, or stuck in traffic, or someone cuts in front of you, do you complain and whine, and be immature, or do you have a mature approach and use the time wisely? For example, if travelling with others you can talk to them. If alone, you can meditate on something, or for your journey get something worthwhile to listen to. There are plenty of bad drivers on the road, but there is no point in getting mad at the immature morons who drive badly.
It is easy to just react to situations and act in an immature way, but as time goes by, we should be considering how we respond to this situations.
What other ways can you think of how to behave in a mature way?
