The Mark of Maturity

If you were asked what THE mark of maturity was, what would you say? I am sure high on your list would be words like faith and love. Paul talks about these much in his epistles; you can't help believe that he was looking for these characteristics in those to whom he was ministering. But would you also include the word "unity"? I believe our readings in both Ephesians and Ezekiel would suggest that we should.

When sin entered into the world, what happened? One effect was division. There was a rift in the relationship between God and man. Man began to hide themselves from God. Man was cast out of the garden away from the presence of the Lord. Likewise there was a rift in the relationship between man and other men (women). Relationships were tainted now with blaming and self-grasping and the like.

So it would make sense that one effect God would design in bringing salvation was the removal of this division and the promoting of unity. And this is exactly what we see.

In Ezekiel after God makes the dry bones live, He then shares with Ezekiel His design to make a united people of God. He intended to bring Joseph and Judah together so that they would be one people, under one God, who would make His dwelling among them. Note that the oneness that God desired affected both relationships that had been severed at the fall - both the horizontal relationships of mankind, as well as the vertical relationship between God and man.

But this bringing together of the OT family may just have been a prefigurement of what God wanted to do later after Christ had come. Paul, in the 4th chapter speaks to this.

He begins this section of his epistle by urging his readers to "walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called". And what does that worthy walk look like? A great part of that answer is unity. Paul speaks of being "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." He reminds them that "there is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." That's a lot of "oneness".

He says a bit later in the passage that God gives "gifted people" to the church to equip them for the work of ministry...."until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature manhood, to the measure of stature of the fullness of Christ."

So there it is - in one verse the merging of maturity with unity. Truly for Paul and for our Lord, our growth in faith and love should move us on towared unity with our brothers and sisters in the faith.

So we must ask, "How is our unity within the body?" Since it is a mark of maturity unity is something we should diligently seek to promote. If it is absent it only means one thing: we are not yet operating from the fullness of Christ. We need to focus more on knowing Christ and loving more the Christ who we come to know.

Let's all pray for the unity of our body and well as the church in general. Since it is a sign of maturity we ought pray that the Lord makes us one, even as the Trinity is one. As God answers this prayer it is certain that the outside world who knows much division will be drawn to this light of God's presence among and within us.