Many of us have these ideas of what we expect from someone who is spiritually mature, but I wonder how often those expectations align with God's word. This verse tells us that spiritual maturity is ultimately about the development of our spiritual senses, providing us with the ability to distinguish good from evil and the real truth from all the lies. And this being the case, this isn't something we can learn in isolation. Of course, the Holy Spirit alone can teach us everything effectively, but community is the ground upon which God matures us, the place where teaching becomes training.
Training goes one step farther than mere teaching and adds practical application to the mix. It's more than the mere teaching of information. Training offers opportunities to practice what we know. If we don't practice what we know, our knowledge is useless. In this case, we must practice using our spiritual senses, such as discernment and understanding. These senses are ones that can only be utilized with an attitude of teachability, humility and vulnerability. In other words, we must keep our hearts open since it is not with human eyes that we see spiritual matters.
This isn't something we can do on our own. It's crucial that we connect with the Lord to examine everything at a deeper level. Since the flesh sees with a superficial sight, our natural tendency is to see one another as enemies and harden our hearts in an effort to be strong. But spiritual training teaches us to look deeper. It is then that we learn that we're all on the same side with one common enemy. We learn that real strength lies in an attitude of vulnerability and tenderness because it is then that God's strength works most abundantly. Hard heartedness only desensitizes the spirit's senses and refuses the very help we need. Lean in to Jesus with an open heart.
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