Maturing as Believers 

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆 "𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒅" 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒖𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒗𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆: 𝑰𝒏 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏—𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂�

In part one, we learned that spiritually immature believers are those who are not keeping God’s commandments. This means that at the level of intimate, experiential, and fellowship, a believer may not know His Lord. This is clearly seen in Jesus’ exchange with His disciples in John 14:7-9. Jesus said, “If you had known Me [implication: but you didn’t], you would have known [implication: but you don’t] My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip asks t

John teaches, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). In this verse, John is speaking of the spiritually mature believer. That’s because the second word, “know” means “an active, experiential, intimate, growing, personal, and relational knowledge of God” that transforms a believer to walk as Jesus walked. While it’s true that every believer knows God at the level of being born again, but at the level of intimate, experiential

𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒍, 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕; 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑮𝒐𝒅'𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔. 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 "𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒍�

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂 "𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖" 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒐𝒅. 𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 (𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏) 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐�

For the believer, the attitude of gratitude is not about having it all together. It is about remembering God holds you when you do not have it all together. Gratitude does not ignore reality. It reframes it. It lets you see your life not as a collection of problems to solve, but as a story held by a God who is good and whose love does not run out. Jesus healed ten men of leprosy, but only one returned to thank Him, showing how rare and vital true gratitude is (Luke 17:11-19).

Biblical Christianity is a faith practice which views earthly empires through a critical, prophetic lens, prioritizing the care of the poor, marginalized, orphans and strangers. American Christianity frequently aligns religious movements with political power, cultural preservation, and national defense. Biblical Christianity centers on glorifying God, serving humanity, surrendering personal will, and placing allegiance to the Kingdom of Heaven first. American Christianity is

We read, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). God is not surprised by the condition of your heart. He knows where you are hiding. He knows the places where you have convinced yourself that something destructive is actually fine. And He does not reject you for it. And this is where healing begins. Not in pretending you have it all figured out, but in admitting that you need help seeing yourself clearly, and cr

We read, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). This does not mean your emotions, desires, motivations, and reasoning are invalid. It means they’re not infallible. You can feel deeply drawn to something and still be moving in the wrong direction. You can feel justified in a hurt and still be holding bitterness. You can believe you are being honest while quietly hiding the truth from yourself. Jeremiah is naming

Psalm 107:1 is about anchoring ourselves in what is true even when circumstances are hard. And the truth here is steady: God is good, and His love does not end. Returning thanks to God is also an act of trust. It says, I may not understand everything right now, but I trust Your character. I trust that You are present. I trust that Your love is not conditional on my ability to see the full picture. Maintaining gratitude is not about manufacturing emotion, but about choosing to