I’ve been on a bender to grow up emotionally ever since I
read Peter Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, at the end of 2016.
The bottom line of Pete’s book is, it is impossible to be spiritually mature
while remaining emotionally immature. We want to be Christlike but dare I
suggest, at the root of Christlikeness is emotionally maturity.
I suspect it is not just me God is wanting to mature!!! I
believe at this point in time God is calling us, his kids in the church, to
grow up and relate to one another in a mature way. I believe it is our
emotional immaturity that is letting us down. We are not revealing the multi
faceted aspects of the wisdom of God, love, as we are called to do. One sure
sign of maturity is the ability to not only speak the truth in love but also be
able to hear the truth. By the love we have for each other, people will know
who we follow.
It is not enough to repent of sin as it happens, we have to
allow the truth of the Holy Spirit to replace the dodgy immature sinful old man
ways we relate to each other. Being defensive, distancing ourselves emotionally
from people, to name two of the dysfunctions the Holy Spirit and I are
dismantling, are not viable options for the chick following after Jesus. Nor
the rooster. I dare to expect that as I become more emotionally mature, I will
need to repent less. Ohhh, that sounded scary when I said it out loud.
You can imagine my joy at finding a website that talks about
the challenges of maturing emotionally. In essence this is what the psychological
world calls emotional intelligence - the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.
Check it out if you like. I have found the discussion there on relationships and self quite helpful and
enlightening. www.thebookoflife.org.
