Week 7 – Spiritual Growth Development Part V

Celebration of Discipline Bible Study
Prepared by: Rev. Willetta Ar-Rahmaan
Week 7 – Spiritual Growth Development Part V

In our last lesson we talked about the child/teenager stage. This stage is the beginning of the boundaries being defined and developing our own sense of identify as we are maturing in Christ. This week we will discuss the Young Person stage. The young person stage in the human development has a broad range of age, however for this study we will look at it from the age of 20 to 35. Since we are not placing age on the Spiritual Growth we can say this is the stage of celebration and victory because one has matured to a point where we are our own person in Christ.

When we look at this stage from the human behavior point of view we notice a few things, we are willing and ready to make long term commitments, we learn how to compromise and make sacrifices. At this stage in our human development we have overcome a lot of obstacles to get we are in life. In the midst of all the celebration we often find ourselves being frustrated with how things continue to move in life. We feel if we have matured to become a productive member of society why others haven’t done the same thing. During this stage in life we are bonding with people and creating a lasting relationship. As these relationships grow and others stop growing because they feel they’ve learned all they need to survive for the rest of life, we look at them with amazement because we are learning something new everyday no matter how small it is.

This is what the 4th level of spiritual growth is about. We have set boundaries for ourselves so we can become that mature person in the spirit. We know that at every turn the adversary is lurking around waiting for the chance to push us off the path and not allow us to achieve that fullness of victory. When we talk about victory in Christ we are talking about the maturity steps taken to overcome the hurtful, hateful and hair-raising experience that would want to make us holler and fight. We because frustrated and resentful when we don’t understand why people are still so immature when it comes to spiritual maturity. When we get this point in our life are not expected to know everything but we feel great about what we’ve learned and how we can share our own life experiences with others to help them set their own boundaries, transform their integrity and character.

When we uphold a standard for ourselves we ought to demonstrate that standard in our everyday action. If our standard becomes a moving target we will easily become discourage because we are not where we want to be on the journey. If we try to uphold others to that same standard and they don’t measure it we become frustrated. We are frustrated because we are taking on the burdens that are not for us to carry.

When we become frustrated on this Christian journey we may become isolated. We will cut people out of our lives; ignore people and slowly sliding down the ladder of rebellion. We must remember what works for us will not work for everyone and what we have done in the past may not work in our present level of maturity. We have matured at this point beyond the superficial and the shallow. Our spiritual walk is much deeper than before. We allow things to roll off but we are aware of the darts, snares and arrows that continue to show up in our lives in the image of friends, co-workers, family, peers and colleagues. It’s hard to say not to become frustrated but when we find ourselves in that situation it’s time to steal away in the presence of God.

Scripture Reading:
1 John 2:11-28, John 12:27-31, Genesis 4:3-8, 1 John 5:4

Going Deeper:

1. What has been the most frustrated and annoying thing you encountered on your Christian Journey so far? What could you have done not be annoyed?
2. Since you’ve reach the stage of victory what are some things that helped you to get to this stage? Why do you think others find it hard to get to this same stage?
3. Was it possible to short cut the growth to get to this stage? What would be a noticeable since when one has taken a short cut?