Spiritual Maturity: Learning is an Active Verb

In order to reach our goal of spiritual maturity, we must take the task of learning about God and studying the Bible seriously.

Learning is not passive. We cannot be handed biblical knowledge and godly character on a silver platter. We have to work at it and strive for it. Every individual must be committed to learning, if personal and corporate spiritual maturity is to be attained.

First, we must have a desire to learn. Without a passion for learning, the best teaching in the world will be stale, dry, and boring. We must love knowledge and wisdom and growth for its own sake and God's sake ... completely apart from whomever happens to be teaching, or whether they are "interesting" or not. If we only want to learn from a certain person or set of people, we cannot say that we love learning. People come and go in our lives. Learning is eternal.

Second, we must expect to learn. If we come to church or to a class with a blase attitude, we will get exactly that out of it. If we come expecting to learn, we will be searching for understanding, for new insights, for truths we were not aware of, and for how to apply the lessons to our lives.

Third, we must make time to learn. Learning cannot be an afterthought, or treated with a "I'll see if I can squeeze it in" attitude. Otherwise, we will treat it casually, or be looking at our watch rather than focusing on the topic.

Fourth, we must put forth effort to learn. Pay attention. Listen purposefully. Take notes. Do extra study. Apply the truths learned.

Fifth, we must become self-motivated to learn. If we rely solely on external stimuli for our spiritual maturity, we will not grow as God intends. We must seek after wisdom and knowledge of our own will, wherever it lies. Books, tapes, videos, teachers, counselors, mentors, friends ... we must search out every opportunity for growth and seize it with both hands.

Put simply, learning is an active verb. If we are to mature in Christ, we must be completely committed to pursuing wisdom and knowledge and godly character - every hour of our lives.

© 2008 Paula Marolewski

You have my permission to reprint and distribute this article as long as it is distributed in its entirety, including all links and copyright information. This article is not to be sold or included with anything that is sold.

Paula J. Marolewski provides challenging and interactive adult Bible studies for individuals, Bible studies, small groups, and adult Sunday School classes at Sink Your Roots (www.SinkYourRoots.com). The above article is an excerpt from Called to Teach.