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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Maturity is a Vine depending on the Root of Character



Maturity is taking responsibility and accepting consequences without excuses.

A radio news series about honesty in America talked about excuses. The commentator said that people use three types of excuses when guilty of wrongdoing. The first is outright denial a rejection of any involvement. Sometimes this is done even though the person is obviously guilty. The second is the "It's not my fault" excuse. The person looks around for someone he can blame. (Often it is a loved one - a husband or wife or parent. Sometimes it's the boss.) A third form of excuse is the "I did it, but...." approach. In this instance the person blames circumstances for his shortcoming. Either he's been struggling with some illness or the assignment wasn't clear or the car's been giving him trouble.[1] 

Maturity does not happen without humility. Pride refuses to accept a negative consequence as its responsibility because of fear of what others may think. Humility will accept the responsibility and immediate pain of public opinion so it can learn not to repeat it again. It does not sacrifice growth to preserve temporary opinion. Interestingly enough, irresponsible people tend to make the same mistakes over and over because pride is stunting the growth that would be produced by correction. Maturity will never be achieved in anyone’s life without correction being received.

Genesis 3:9-13 (KJV)
9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

It appears that not only was sin passed onto the human race but so was the art of excuse making. In verses 14-19 we read that God holds people accountable for their actions. We could define maturity in this way “it is when a person holds themselves accountable for their actions.”

In Luke 15 we have the famous story of the prodigal son. His actions at the beginning of the story are the signs of immaturity. Wanting immediate possessions before the time and then spending wildly without restraint ignoring the future consequences of such action. However, when returning to his father he displays an undeniable growth when he accepts full responsibility for his actions and blames no one else for them.

We have all heard at least one or all of the following excuses for not going to church. Too many hypocrites there - don’t like the songs - preaches too long - seats too hard. The list is endless but maturity will be evidenced by being able to put-up with things that are mere inconveniences. It is able to differentiate between a problem and inconvenience. Robert Fulghum quotes Sigmund Wollman, a German Jew, in his book Uh-Oh, If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire—then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. Learn to separate the inconveniences from the real problems. You will live longer… a lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same lump. One should learn the difference.”

Adolescence has a trait of classing all inconveniences as problems which need solved or fixed and it may not be the case. When we do that, seeing inconveniences as problems, we begin to overwhelm ourselves with things that really don't matter.  

Maturity is the proof of a developed character. Deficiency in character will leave a deficit in one's maturing process. Never forget, that our attitudes, what motivates us, our outlook on life, always corresponds to our character. Since character is the root system for the vine of maturity, then the formation of character is the initial priority of life to ensure the fruit of maturity to ripen.

Maybe the next blog, we can talk about the all-important subject of character.


[1] Source Unknown.

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