WHAT DOES CHRISTIAN MATURITY INVOLVE?

For one thing, it involves submission to the Words of God. Jesus had finished His prayer emphasizing the revelation of God:

·       “I made known to them your name [You Yourself], and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)

Experiencing the love of God (and our unity in Him) depends upon our knowledge of God. It is this love that is essential to our unity, and our unity is essential to our witness, as Jesus had just prayed:

·       “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:20-23)

Love, unity, and oneness are not optional. They can only be achieved as we allow the Word of God to judge us – all of our inclinations, thoughts, and desires.

Having experienced tons of anti-Semitism, I hated Whites and actually thought they had a nauseating odor. (I had been raised in an area of just Whites and Jews.) Even after the Lord had revealed Himself to me, the idea of entering a church was traumatic, and when I started to attend, I was convinced that these Whites were all hypocrites.

However, I had to submit my thoughts and impulses to the Word of God – a long and painful process. However, I knew Scripture required this of me.

He has brought me a long way in 40 years. I recently wrote an essay I entitled “Why I Call Myself a “Christian” and not a “Messianic Jew,” where I argued that we must not divide the Body of Christ. It disturbed some of my Jewish brethren, but, for Christ’s sake, I thought it had to be said.