I’ve been a believer for a while, but I feel like I am going back to basics and unlearning some things I learned wrong the first time. Not that I’m placing blame on anyone or any church. I think we as American Christians have been taught wrong in some areas and have let our culture dictate our theology, rather than the other way around.

So what does maturity in the faith look like? Is it something that automatically comes with age? Is it all about being Super-Spiritual Bible Answer KnowledgeMan? Is it about being able to reach a place of spiritual superiority where you can finally look down on everyone else from your lofty devotional heights?

After reading The Calvary Road, I have some thoughts.

Maturity means humility. It means looking for fault with myself first and then in the other person. It means that even if the other person was wrong, my own reaction of anger, impatience, pride, etc. was also wrong. I have to own up to my own failings and not worry so much about the failings of others. But I also have to be willing to speak all the truth in love, even gently admonishing a brother or sister who has gone astray. But not until I have pulled that huge plank of wood out of my eye to see the speck in theirs.

Maturity means brokenness. It means acknowledging that after all I’ve done for God, that I am still an unworthy servant. That my best works are stained with sinful motives and that my best intentions are chocked full of selfish ambition. Yet even in my unworthiness, Jesus calls me friend and can take my dross and turn it into gold. If I come to Him, confessing my filthy rags and holding out my empty hands, He will fill me up with so much of Himself that it will spill out all over anyone who is around me.

Maturity means seeking revival in my own heart constantly. I can never come to a place where I am satisfied with where I am. I must acknowledge that I am in desparate need of Jesus from the first moment I wake up to my last thought before sleep takes me. Revival means being continually cleansed from sin and filled with Jesus, a cup that runneth over.

Maturity means I don’t have a 50-year plan of saintliness and godliness, but I say, “Lord, I want to be faithful and obedient to You for the next 24 hours.” Somedays, it means, “Help me to just believe for this moment.”

I have not arrived, but I am on my way. I have not reached perfection, but I am a masterpiece in the making. I didn’t travel a thousand miles today, but I did take one step. Actually, more like 9 steps back and 10 steps forward. But God willing, I will take one more step of faith tomorrow. Maybe one day I’ll take that leap.