Spiritual Maturity Measurements Are Often Not Given Sufficient Priority.
Spiritual Maturity Measurements for Christian growth are extremely valuable to help you:
- Know where you are going and
- Keep you are on track for productive growth.
Measurements for Christian growth are from my new book Fathering Leadership out of Chapter 9, “Metrics of Sonship.” Sonship is first of all about:
- A right heart attitude toward our Heavenly Father.
- Then, it is about building life skills as a faithful and trusted son in his Father’s business.
These measurements will be good to refer back to often to monitor your growth.
Spiritual Maturity Measurements
Can you recognize emotional triggers?
- Are you able to recognize when you are emotionally triggered? When a person or event has initiated something which causes a heart response in you leading to a lack of peace, and your heart going “offline”?
- How quickly do you notice when your peace and joy are disrupted? Does a day go by before you realize you’ve retreated to a cave or become impatient and agitated over little things?
Can you take responsibility for your triggers when they arise?
- The truth is, no one can make you feel mad (sad, hopeless, rejected…) unless you allow them to. This doesn’t mean that others don’t display bad behavior at times, but it does mean that my heart response is my own responsibility. I can’t control what others think, say, or do.
- Regardless of what challenges life brings, there is a place of responding to them from the felt experience of God’s rest, and from this, setting good boundaries as needed. This is the opposite of being reactive, it is being intentionally responsive.
- When triggers do occur, are you inclined to blame others or to blame the devil/warfare rather than taking responsibility for how your own heart responds?
- Do you always look for intervention instead of taking steps of growth? Intervention means that you feel it is necessary for others to change before you can be okay, or that you want God to touch you “at the altar” and make your problems disappear without taking any steps to resolve them yourself. You’re simply looking for God or someone else to intervene and change the situation.
How quickly and diligently do you work through the issues that arise in life?
- Are you diligent? This is a measure of maturity and that you are growing in sonship.
- Do you quickly seek to be with God, journal, pray, and wait on Him to work out what is happening in your heart? Or, if you are not getting progress, how quickly do you get Christian counsel?
Remember – Progress not Perfection
My wife Cyndi marched in the drum corps of her high school band. Marching bands display dynamic art as they beautifully march out intricate patterns set to the music they are playing. Yet, it all works according to strict metrics as each musician counts out steps while playing precise notes on their instrument. Maybe this is a good metaphor of the Christian life.
No one has “arrived” at perfect maturity in the measurements of sonship I’m outlining, and no one ever will. Can we really measure the heart dynamics of a son/daughter of God? Probably not. But if we can see the destination of sonship maturity, if we can, to some degree, measure where we are currently and also where we are going, we can more effectively cooperate with God’s sanctifying work in us. This will then lead us to walk in emotional health and Christian maturity and be life-giving to the people around us.
