31 Jan The Call to Relational Maturity

There is no better example of a relational maturity than that which exists in the Godhead. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, and they are also three persons. United in thought, heart and mind, of one purpose and agreed in all they do. There is nothing like it anywhere. The unity we find in God gives the world its stability and “in Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) . God is that unshakeable entity that gives a solid foundation to everything.

For those of us who are married, we know how wonderful it is to be agreed and of one heart with our wife or husband. But we also know the times when we are not agreed and the pain that can cause and the effects that come from that. No such disagreement is found in God, and none of this world’s pain comes from Him.

But it can be said that a lot of pain has come from the lack of relational maturity that we humans have with God. Along with that is the lack of relational maturity between people. The broken relationships between us and God, and between people, has caused huge ripple effects right through history and in our present time, which influence all manner of things negatively.

In contrast with this, God calls us as believers to “love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34-35) What we have from God is a call to mature relationships. This is a call to maturity between christians, and between us and God. We are called to find something that already exists in God himself.

For those of us who struggle to imagine the possibility of such a thing this side of Heaven, we have the words of Christ in his prayer in John 17:20-21. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

What Christ prayed for must be possible, but more than that, should be our goal and become our reality.

The call of God is on the Body of Christ to measure up to the fullness of Christ. We are called to relational maturity. Such a thing is attractive to unbelievers because outside of Christ, it doesn’t exist. When they witness such a thing, they know God is real. And there are other ripple effects that come out of God’s people when they increase in the maturity of their love for God and love for each other. Those effects bring much good and change everything.

We are called to love one another. This is not limited to just the believers in whatever congregation you pastor, or attend. This is a call to love one another. When Paul wrote to “accept one another” in Romans 15:7 it was to Jews and Gentiles in the same church. Though they were physically in the same congregation, the differences between their thoughts and beliefs were much more starkly contrasting that those between many of the denominations today. If Paul could be so bold as to instruct such a thing, then surely it applies today.

Let us respond to the call of God, and go onto relational maturity. The world doesn’t know it, but it is waiting for us to do so.