Proverbs 9:6

“Lay aside immaturity, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.” NRSV

We live in a youth-focused culture. Everything, it seems, around us is about being young, staying young. I asked one of my young students one day what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said, “I don’t want to ever grow up.” I asked her to explain. “Because kids get to do everything they want to do.”

What a sad (and totally self-centered) commentary.

Now, it’s not surprising that children are self-centered. We are born egocentric. Think of a baby. It doesn’t concern itself with others at all. When it’s hungry, it screams. When it’s uncomfortable, it screams. When it’s feeling lonely or bored, it screams. Babies don’t care what else is going on around them. They scream when they have negative feelings and continue screaming until that negativity is removed. That is the way of the young.

But it seems to me that many adults would like to remain in this young, without-responsibility, totally self-centered state. Not only are we afraid of old age and dying, but we are afraid of maturity, of responsibility.

That was never to be the way of the believer. “Lay aside immaturity and live.” I see something rather wonderful here, the inference of grabbing life in its fullest, but in the context of maturity: “Lay aside immaturity and [go out there and grab life by the throat; truly live understanding what it means to be a mature believer].” There is something to be said for maturity, to the discerning ability to understand the probable consequences of most situations, to be able to problem-solve and make it work.

We are finishing a minor remodel to our downstairs bath. We did part of it two years ago and decided this summer to finish. Only, the chair rail that we purchased two years ago has disappeared and the store no longer carries it. In fact, in the area where we live, no one carries a traditional chair rail. So, we were faced with either delaying the remodel, trying to drive down the hill (a great distance away) and find something or adapt something else to our purpose.

A problem needing a solution. While this isn’t a traditionally spiritual problem, it is a typical life problem: having a need and not an easy way to solve it. This is where maturity and reliance on the wisdom of God is absolutely necessary. Problems with ready made solutions are for the young and inexperienced. Problems that need creativity and insight are for the mature.

There’s nothing wrong with having lived long enough to have experience . . . or wisdom . . . or insight. And there’s nothing wrong with learning from those who’ve gone before and have more maturity than we do.

I think the other reason we like to embrace spiritual immaturity is that it gives us an excuse to hold onto our pet sins. Maturity forces us to confront even the most hidden sin and root it out. That being said, isn’t it time we all did some spiritual housecleaning?

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).