Maturity

I find that people have a false perception of what actual maturity entails. 

We are taught to believe that at some point all people stop being children and become adults, and the defining quality of an adult being maturity. In traditional american thinking we hold the following definitions as evidence of that maturity: 

- responsibility

- accountability  

- integrity

- loyalty

- honesty

- leadership

- a career

- success

- power

- social status

- active member of a social group

As long as you have a stable job, handle your finances well, obey the authorities, have a healthy family life, stay up-to-date on politics and news around the world, and believe in a higher power, you are considered to live a healthy and mature life.

I propose a different definition of what it means to truly be mature. To be truly mature, is to be fully human.

I suggest that throughout the narrative of the bible, from Genesis to Jesus, god is trying to show humans how to be fully human. In the poem that starts out genesis, god is extremely intimate with the first humans. God walked and talked in the garden with these humans, teaching them what life was, what death was. God wanted to teach them about evil, and about love. Humans are the most beautiful and incredible creature in the entire universe; the apex of all creation. Humans bear the image of the living god. But humans were infantile in their existence. Humans did not know how to channel there thoughts and desires. They needed guidance. Humans needed a mentor. And just as a ten year old with access to a million dollar trust-fund, we abused our gifts. To quote the poet of Song of Songs: 'don't awaken love before it so desires'. Humanity opened up pandoras box before they were fully ready; they ate the forbidden fruit before they learned how to maturely handle the truth. With great knowledge comes great responsibility, and humanity was not in a place were it was able to be mature yet. Humans didn't want to wait for god to show them the truths about the tree of good and evil, they wanted instant gratification. Given enough time, it is reasonable to assume that god would one day explain this so called tree, but not before they were ready to handle it. 

From the beginning, god has continually been trying to bring us back to the metaphor of the garden. Not to a state of perfection, but to a state of human maturity. A relationship where god is the mentor and humans are the student. God tries again later with Abraham. God realized that maybe if one people group were set apart from the rest, that through them the whole world could then be reconciled and find their way back to their human roots, the roots of relationship. God's intention was that through the nation of israel, all humanity would learn how to be human again. But when god finally gets to a place where that is possible, his people reject him. God brings his people out of Egypt, out of the systems and empires of this world, and into a fresh beginning; the wilderness. But when Moses comes down from the mountain with the amazing news that this god wants to have no mediator, no middle man, no priest, just the people and god, the people get scared. The people reject direct relationship with their god, and turn to human rule instead. They ask if Moses can speak on behalf of god, out of fear that god will destroy them.

This pattern is recycled over and over throughout the entire bible, and again with Jesus. This time god resides his spirit in a human. The spirit of god become flesh to bring humans back to the true meaning of their humanity. Jesus was the first fully mature human. Through Jesus we see what true maturity as a human was meant to look like all along.  

- love

- compassion

- forgiveness

- grace

- empathy

- freedom from oppression

- social justice

- separation from the ways and systems of this world

The american view of maturity has stunted the christian adult. Sometime after high school and college, adults stop asking the existential questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? What does it mean to be human?

They become content and comfortable. They choose the superficial way to maturity, instead of the hard way. They are responsible and have a good career and are respected in their community and church, but they don't really know who they are or what they want from life. They fall back on recycled generic answers such as: I am a child of christ! I am here to love and be loved! I am here to do god's will for my life!

But that is only scratching the surface of true identity. They stop asking questions, so they stop growing. 

What good is it to be deemed responsible and mature by society, if you don't even know who you are?

Maturity modeled after Jesus is often thought of as foolish by the systems of this world, often even by the church. It values humility over self-affirmation. Grace over justice. Weakness over power. 

Maturity is found in the ability to give a voice to the voiceless. When you stand up for the oppressed and fight the powers that subject them to a life of dehumanization, you find true maturity. When your life echoes selflessness over selfishness, you are on your way to becoming fully human. True maturity is found in humility. A life of sacrificial love always trumps the standards of living that the world has to offer.