What is your spiritual age? Do you know? Do you know how to reckon it? Now, this is not the same thing as asking: “When did you join the church?” or, “How many years since your conversion?” or, “How long have you been a Christian?” The question: “What is your spiritual age?” is an inquiry concerning your spiritual maturity or immaturity.

And in calculating spiritual maturity, chronological age is no factor at all. It makes no difference here whether you are 25 or 75. Many young Christians who have been Christ’s people only a few years possess a spiritual maturity far outstripping that of older Christians who’ve been in the church a couple of generations. Neither can spiritual maturity be measured by the cultural advantages we’ve had.

Murdo Macdonald, Minister of Edinburgh’s St. George’s Church, West, where go the privileged people, the university trained professionals of that Scottish capital, says of all the Christians he’s ever known, the man most mature spiritually was a poor farmer on one of the coastal isles who had the meagerest of educational and cultural advantages.  Neither is regularity of attendance at church services and church school any dependable yardstick for measuring spiritual maturity. Have we not all, on occasion, been appalled at the spiritual immaturity of some church members whose faithfulness had become proverbial in the flock, and have we not been awed at the surprising spiritual maturity shown by someone in a crisis who we have thought scarcely interested in the things of the spirit?

What then are the marks of spiritual maturity? St. Paul, in his Ephesian letter, discusses all this quite thoroughly, pointing out that the ultimate objective of Christian discipleship is not so much that we should be good, nor even that we obtain salvation — but that we should grow into that spiritual maturity which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The first mark of spiritual maturity is growing up to do something, at once satisfying to the self and of useful service to man, glorifying God. In the physical life of man the most apparent contrast between infancy and maturity is the helpless babe lying in his little crib, incapable of doing a thing for himself or others, just kicking and crying; and the adult grown to maturity with capacities developed and skills trained to do hundreds of useful things for himself and others.

Now, St. Paul maintains that as Almighty God did not intend that we should each remain forever in our cradles but grow into physical maturity, so Almighty God did not intend that we be born again spiritually into his church and continue always as helpless babes in Christ, never growing sufficiently in the spiritual realm to do something for Him.

In the Ephesian letter Paul says: “God’s gifts to man were made that Christians might be properly equipped for their service in Christ.” In other words, the reason God has given men talents is for the express purpose of properly outfitting them to perform their spiritual service. In the closing paragraphs of his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul uses a beautiful phrase to describe a certain Grecian family: “the household of Stephanas have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.” They addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. We know people subject to the same addiction, don’t we? Addicted not to drugs or strong drink, addicted not to pleasure seeking or moneymaking, but addicted to ministering to the needs of Christ’s needy children. This became habitual in the household of Stephanas. They achieved the spiritual maturity of doing something constructive in the Kingdom.

Now, of course, we are not all expected to grow up to spiritual maturity fitting into the same mould. God’s gifts to men vary. “Some He made special messengers, some prophets, some teachers of the gospel; to some He gave the power to guide and teach His people.” — each serving in his own individual way.

Whittaker Chambers, in his startling book says of the power of the communists today: “Their power, whose nature baffles the rest of the world, because in a large measure the rest of the world has lost that power, is the power to hold convictions and act upon them. Communists are that part of mankind which has recovered the power to live or die — to bear witness — for its faith.” And speaking of his own spectacular part in this trail as chief witness, Whittaker Chambers says: “A witness in the sense that I am using the word, is a man whose life and faith are so completely one that when the challenge comes to step out and testify for his faith, he does so, disregarding all risks, accepting all consequences.”

Is there no ring of familiar tones in such lines for Christian ears today? Listen, Jesus speaking to His disciples: “Ye are my witnesses. Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.”

We are called to be witnesses unto Him. It is not supposed that each shall witness in the same way, word for word, act for act — but each in his own way shall step out and act and do in conformity with whatever faith or spiritual life there is in him. The first mark of spiritual maturity is growing up to do something constructive for the Kingdom.

The second mark of spiritual maturity is growing up to get along with other people — to work in cooperation, understanding, and tolerance with others of God’s children. One way we prove our spiritual maturity or immaturity is by our ability or inability to enter joyously and blessedly into the mutuality of living, into both helping and being helped by others.

We are never surprised when small children fuss and squabble and scrap among themselves. We know they can’t get along with each other very well without having some adult or more mature youth to serve as a referee. Little Johnnie is sure to pop little Willie if Willie picks up Johnnie’s truck and begins to play with it. It is childlike for children to get their feelings hurt and refuse to play with their playmates unless they are allowed to have their own way. Such is the behavior pattern for children because children are spiritually immature.

Now you tell me how spiritually mature is the church officer who habitually opposes anything old so and so on the same board with him proposes irrespective of its wisdom just because he can’t get along with that same so and so? And the sensitive saint who has to be handled ever so carefully and never put in the same circle with certain others, how spiritually mature is she? Or what of the church member who will have nothing to do with a given project if his opinion and his advice fails to carry the majority?

Oh, see the multitude who crowd the church’s spiritual nursery — who must be cared for as babes in Christ instead of taking their posts in her line of battle like brave and strenuous men, spiritually mature!

St. Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that as spiritually mature persons, they should “accept life with humility and patience, making allowance for each other because they love each other.” The spiritually mature person affirms the right of others to be themselves, to achieve and maintain their unique self-hood — never transgressing that right either by criticism or by the tyranny of taking them over and making decisions for them. In the strife of Reformation days in Germany, Phillip of Hesse maintained that “people can unite to defend the right of each to believe what he will even though they are not altogether of the same persuasion.”

A fine young woman, skilled in business, upright in character, efficient in running an office, was about to lose her job. “She’s invaluable to me,” said her boss, “but I shall have to let her go because of her temper. When others don’t do to suit her, she flies off the handle. She’s a perfectionist and can’t be patient with the mistakes of others. Her temper tears her and the office all to pieces.”

An elderly person of upright character, intelligent, long a church member, loved by a large family, was faced with real trouble — the trouble of having no place to go — all because of that one’s inability to accommodate to living pleasantly and helpfully with others.

Ill-tempered, sensitiveness, jealousy, envy, all these irritants to social harmony — why are some folks bothered with these vices and others not? Can it be that some are not tempted as others are? I think not. This human nature of ours is all very much alike. Some are just more spiritually mature than others — they have mastered the technique of handling these enemies of man’s soul, while other less mature spirits haven’t.

But how? Who can stand before envy, for example? Who? No one can — only God. When envy creeps in, if we harbor it, think about it, the passion will manufacture more and more poison and spread over our whole system. Have we not all noticed how most unkind, mean, even slanderous sayings are spawned by a jealous or envious heart? The only way to deal with jealousy and envy is prayer. This kind of demon is cast out only by much prayer. We must pray for the one we are tempted to be jealous or envious of. We must give thanks to God for the honor or favor or affection bestowed on that one. We must ask God to cleanse our hearts and to put within us a spirit of willingness to accept our station and to do with diligence and devotion our duties. Think more about our own weaknesses and less about other persons’ faults and slights.

Someone has called prayer “the battleground of the soul.” Here are fought out the real issues of life. Here is where our spirits are tempered and matured for living with others.

The third mark of spiritual maturity is growing up to a full-orbed relationship with God, which is both constant and personal. He who has made us in His own image, has made us for Himself, and as Augustine says, our weary souls are restless till we find our rest in Him. St. Paul put it this way to the Ephesians: “His gifts were made that Christians might be properly equipped for their service, that the whole body might be built up until the time comes, when in the unity of common faith and common knowledge of the Son of God, we arrive at real maturity — The measure of development which is meant by the fullness of Christ.”

So one of the surest marks of our spiritual development is the obvious degree to which we are or aren’t affirming the reality of God’s existence and His being as revealed in Scripture. How often we say: “Yes, Lord, yes” to Christian teaching about God and then go right out and in what we do and say and think, say: “No” to that same teaching. For example: in our prayers, in the creed, we acknowledge God as Lord and Master and then we are our own boss. We call him “Creator” and then act like self-made men.
“Precious Savior” is our pious phrase in church for Christ, and then we walk about in the pride of saving ourselves and trust only in self.

“It came to me all of a sudden,” said a mature Christian in sharing a lifting and illuminating spiritual experience — “it came to me that what we all need most is just to trust the Biblical promises of God as applicable to us today . . . Faith as a little child is what we need.” Yes, one of the surest marks of spiritual maturity is this very quality of serene trust in the promises of God which, from the worldly point of view, often appears most immature.

Dr. James A. McConnell of Oklahoma City tells of fishing one day on the Missouri River. Suddenly he saw a boy frantically waving a red flag from a temporary dock of homemade piling jutting out into the river. Dr. McConnell looked up and saw a large Missouri River steamboat coming down the way full steam ahead. It looked as if the barefooted farmer boy was trying to flag that swiftly moving boat. Moved by curiosity, he pulled in his fishing pole and walked to where the boy was waving the red flag. He began to talk to him.

“You don’t mean to tell me that you are fool enough to think that great riverboat will respond to your signal and try to stop at this little dock on the bend of a swift moving river?”

“Sure, I do, Mister. It’ll stop.” “Why that boat couldn’t stop on this bend in the river to come in here, even if they paid any attention to your flag,” said Mr. McConnell.

“They’ll stop all right, Mister! They’ll stop. I ain’t afraid they won’t stop.”

“You certainly are the biggest fool I ever saw to think that big boat would pay any attention to a boy’s signal on this bend in the river and stop at this godforsaken spot!”

Just at that moment, much to his surprise, Dr. McConnell saw the great riverboat make a sudden swerve out of its downward course and heard the whistle blow twice in recognition of the signal. Then the steamboat slowly made its way in to the crude homemade dock on piles. The gangplank was run out, the boy stepped on board, looked over his shoulder at the stranger standing on the shore, and said, “I ain’t no fool, Mister, my father’s the captain of this boat.”

The spiritually mature Christian has arrived at such a constant and personal relationship with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that his complete trust in the promises of God may appear quite naïve to the worldly wise — but he’s no fool — he knows that this is his father’s world.

A heavy rain had fallen during the night. The sun rose on a misty world. Trees and shrubs and grass were drenched. As we sat at the breakfast table looking out the window, the sun came out, and the large raindrops still clinging to the foliage caught the sun’s rays, reflecting them like prisms. Here was a bright ruby red — here a cool green-blue light, there a yellow orange. But most of the drops cast forth no light at all.

Sorrow and trouble and disappointment in this world, like the rain, are falling on all alike. And joy and peace and satisfaction and beauty are possible for all, available like God’s gracious sunshine. How differently our lives reflect their troubles and their blessings, their experiences and associations, as variously as the colors of the spectrum. Why? It all depends on the bent of the soul — the degree of spiritual maturity — whether we have the three-sided prism of faith and hope and love, or only selfishness, despair and doubt.

What about us? Are we growing spiritually toward that maturity in Christ which receives all and turns all God sends into glory light?