GRattitude

     The concept of The Mature Christian baffled me at first. In my immaturity as a Christian, I thought that faith was binary, you believed or you did not believe. Only later, through study and being discipled did I come to understand that one's baptism of faith initiated a relationship with Christ that triggered the process of sanctification in which we are conformed (slowly, oh so slowly) to His character.  

     Only in retrospect have I seen sanctification unfolding in my life. I did not know I was clinging to impure things until after Christ tugged, pulled or ripped them from my hands, the amount of force required determined wholly by my stubborn insistence, borne of fear I suppose, to retain them.  The objection of the immature pupil to the ripping away is often, "you don't know how this feels." But to Christ, this would be obviously untrue. He does not how it feels, more so than any for his very life in the flesh was ripped from his hands, and absolutely without worldly justification. He did this to show us how it must be done, and throughout exhibited an attitude of acceptance for us to emulate. 

     Peter exhorts us to remember that "since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry." (1Peter 4:1-3).

     As followers of Christ we will sometimes have to suffer, perhaps physically. This is how we mature and are freed from the bonds of sin that distract us from God's will. We have no choice in the matter, other than to willingly and deliberately arm ourselves with Christ's attitude of graceful and grateful acceptance.