How do you measure spiritual maturity?
The command Jesus has given us is to make disciples. Jesus gave believers within His Church various roles to build up His body so that it would be unified and mature (Ephesians 4:11-16).
But what is spiritual maturity? How do you measure it?
In the past, I’ve always asked my disciples a series of questions to gauge their growth through the spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible reading, and fasting have been compared to sails on a ship that we raise. The Holy Spirit is the wind. When the sails are raised it allows the wind to push the ship along. The implication is that the disciplines themselves aren’t what propels us towards our maturity goals, but they are means God uses to that end.
I agree. However, it’s easy for the spiritual disciplines to turn from the means to the measure of maturity.
Accountability Measures:
Historically I’ve always asked and been asked questions like:
- How was your time with the Lord this week?
- Are you spending unhurried time with God?
- What did God teach you in your time with Him?
- What Scripture are you memorizing this week?
These questions put the focus on this mystical “time” with God and specific practices that you do in a moment. It’s as if the moments you spend sitting down with your Bible open is the only time God is present or communing with you.
Talk about segregating your spirituality! Growing in maturity is a WALK with Jesus. It’s ongoing. It doesn’t stop when your Bible closes. What happens when your Bible closes is what determines your true maturity.
One of the most powerful quotes that came out of my time in seminary is attributed to D.L. Moody and says:
“The Bible was not written for our information but for our transformation.”
D.L. Moody
That quote echoes James 1:22.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.“
Would you say your accountability measures more of your disciples’ hearing or their doing?
Is reading, hearing, and taking in God’s Word essential and necessary for your spiritual life and maturity? Of course. But you can love the Bible and still be a jerk. God uses His Word to transform us into Christlikeness. But not through mere knowledge. The Holy Spirit takes that knowledge to shape and change your heart.
It’s for transformation.
It’s for love.
It’s for obedience.
The test of Maturity: Obedience
Francis Chan has a famous clip where he describes this misunderstanding of how we measure our faith. He compares commands in Scripture to telling his daughter to clean her room. Imagine, he says, coming back an hour later and hearing,
- “Daddy, I memorized what you said.”
- “I got a group of my friends together and we sat around in a circle and discussed what you meant when you said to clean my room.”
- “I looked up the Greek word for clean and it means…”
We do the exact same thing.
Obedience is the test of maturity. We must learn to measure our obedience to the Lord and not merely the means.
We err when we make the litmus test of spiritual maturity how much time we spend reading the Bible instead of how much time we spend living the Bible.
We err when we make the litmus test of spiritual maturity how much time we spend reading the Bible instead of how much time we spend living the Bible. Click To TweetWhen you do this you cultivate a heart that feels more guilty for missing a “quiet time” than you do disobedience. You look in the mirror and forget what you look like (James 1:24).
Or maybe more burden-creating, you are actually LIVING truth from the Scripture but feel guilty for the lack of time you spend reading the Bible.
Think about it! What if you wake up early one morning to go meet someone for breakfast and share the Gospel with them. Did you fail that morning because you didn’t read the Bible first thing? What if you wake up early with your kids to serve your spouse by giving them a break? Is memorizing Ephesians 5:22-28 better than living it?
I sure hope not. You know the Bible to live the Bible!
The disciplines are a means of maturity. They can’t become merely a never-ending to-do list to increase your knowledge.
Put it into Practice:
Do you need to have a regular habit of reading the Bible? Of course. But it must be accompanied by a regular habit of applying the Bible. That’s just as important to measure. Here are a few tips:
1. Don’t make the reading or time the gold standard. We measure the disciplines because they are easier to measure–and they are a means. Set goals for yourself, sure. But try to measure application and obedience. Heart transformation and obedience are harder to evaluate, but have your disciples look for ways God is using His Word to change them.
2. Take into account your season of life. There is no one size fits all for disciples reading the Bible or doing any of the disciplines. My wife is currently nursing a newborn and taking care of 2 other kids under 6. Her capacity to spend hours reading the Bible is different than a single girl in college. She is having to learn to fit disciplines in through other means to help her connect with God’s Word and point her heart towards obedience.
3. Ask a different set of questions for accountability. Instead of just asking about “time” with the Lord ask about obedience to the Lord.
My accountability questions going forward will look more like:
- What is God teaching you through His Word?
- What Scripture are you meditating on?
- How are you applying it?
Jesus didn’t say, “Whoever has my commands is the one who loves me.” He said, “Whoever has my commandments and KEEPS them, he it is who loves me” (John 14:21).
How do you tend to measure maturity? Are you stuck on the means of maturity or do you go on to talk about action and obedience?
Take some time and ask disciples in your life the questions above or come up with some of your own that will help you apply God’s Word to your life.