Salvation to Maturity: a simple guide. Christianity is both simple and complex. I like to use the game of golf as an analogy. Anyone with clubs and shoes and walk out on a golf course and call themselves a golfer. That relates to the simplicity of salvation but as anyone knows who has tried golf; it takes a lifetime of practice to excel and even the best players make mistakes. Why does a person need to mature if they’re already ‘saved’? In a nut shell: to gain strength so you can overcome Satan and avoid daily pitfalls. James said, “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”I’ve often heard people quote the second part without the first but if you try to resist Satan without God’s strength inside you, he won’t budge. On top of that, Satan will use any trick in the book to try to steal your faith and salvation, especially for new Christians. The best illustration I know for that is the Parable of the Sower. (Luke 8: 4-15) Parable of the Sower (Note: the “seed” is the Word of God.) Luke 8Seed 1 - fell along the path, got trampled, and birds ate it. (v.5)Equivalent - Some “hear” the Word but the devil takes it from their hearts. Thus, they never believe and are never saved. (v.12)Seed 2 - fell on rock, sprang up, but withered because they had no moisture. (v.6)Equivalent - Some “receive” the Word with joy but they have no “root”. “They believe for a while, but in time of testing, they fall away.” (v.13)Seed 3 - fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked the plants. (v.7)Equivalent - Some “hear” but as they go on their way, they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they don’t mature. (v.14)Seed 4 - fell on good soil and yielded a crop, a hundred times what was sown. (v.8)Equivalent - Some hear the Word and retain it because they have a good and noble heart. By persevering, they produce a crop. (v.15) Obviously, just “hearing” the Word or even “receiving it” will not guarantee that you get to heaven. You must develop a “root” so you don’t “fall away”. (seed 2)“Faith”: the “root” of salvation. The Bible likes to use ‘plants’ as analogies and so do I. The ‘root’ is the most important part of a plant and it’s the part that no one can see, except God. That’s why no one can judge a person by outward appearance. A plant can look tried and withered, even dead, but if it has a good ‘root’, that plant can rebound and be stronger than before. So how do I get ‘faith’ and how do I know when I have it? Faith is being ‘certain’ of what you cannot see. (Heb.11:1) In other words, it’s just believing that God exists (from the Bible) and He’s the One, True, Living God. Obviously, not everyone has the same amount of ‘faith’ because some people are more ‘certain’ than others. Faith is increased by knowledge and understanding of the Word as a person matures. Yet, it only takes a little to be ‘saved’. So how can you tell if you have enough? Let me ask you something: When you get on your knees to pray, do you think you’re talking to an all-powerful, all-knowing God? You must or you would be talking to yourself, so every time you pray, you are proving your faith. If you ever doubt your own faith, which happens to many people, just go to a private spot and pray, reminding yourself that you wouldn’t be doing that if you didn’t believe. It sounds too simple to be true but try it and see. Step 1: Salvation Faith in God, alone, will not get a person to heaven. The Muslims and Jews believe in the same God of Abraham but salvation can only come through Jesus because it was only through His sacrifice that our sins can be forgiven. And that’s how you get to heaven. Paul said, “If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom. 10:9) In other words, speak out loud and tell God that you believe in Jesus, as the Son of God, and that He died for your sins and you want your sins forgiven in His Name. It’s that simple ... but you have to ask. You may not feel different, right away, but follow the rest of these steps and you will. Remember: ‘Believing in your heart’ is that element of ‘faith’ that Satan wants to steal away before you ever get started (seed 1). After you get past the prayer, you are officially ‘saved’ but you must develop a ‘root’ or you could ‘fall away’ in ‘times of testing’ (seed 2). After all, being ‘saved’ does not mean all your struggles are going to disappear. In fact, everyone who is accepted by God undergoes some type of ‘testing’ or ‘discipline’, eventually, because that’s how God ‘trains us’, as a Father should. (Heb. 12:5-11) Yet, God will not let a person be tempted more than than he can bear and He will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it. (1Cor. 10:13) I heard a person refer to that verse once and say, “God must think I’m pretty strong.” lol. Yes ... He sure does. God knows exactly what He’s doing. After all, ‘holding on to your faith’ in times of trouble is what makes that ‘root’ stronger. All those who persevere will be rewarded. Okay, I’m ‘saved’; now what? As I said, you have to build your “root”. On a side note, I wrote most of this in 2010, as the last chapter to my book, because I needed 35,000 words. However, my aunt, whom I respect greatly, said it was her favorite chapter. [sigh] That wasn’t what I wanted to hear but she had a point: salvation is the most important topic. For the record, this is not meant to be steps taken in order to maturity . It’s meant to be a list that you can practice in any order or all at once, to get on the ‘road to maturity’and pass those trials along the way. These are based on my own experiences so others may have a different list. Yet, for a maturity scale, see 2 Pet. 1:5-9. (illus. @ bottom.)Peter’s Maturity Scale 2 Peter 1:4-84 … He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith -goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance,godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep youfrom being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, keep adding to you faith to become mature and productive. Below the chart, I briefly connect Peter’s instructions to my steps above. In general, maturity takes time because you’re “building faith”, each time you add a level. As illustrated below, ‘all’ of these qualities increase ‘proportionally’ as you mature. In other words, you don’t maintain the same amount of ‘faith’ because you become ‘more certain’as you gain ‘more knowledge’ and everything else. Basic definition of MaturityObservations:1. Faith is the ‘root’ of everything because it’s impossible to please God without faith. (Heb. 11:6)2. Goodness is the ‘initial change’ experienced by all Christians because we are a ‘new creation’. (2 Cor. 5:17) Notice that ‘knowledge’ is not even necessary for this step because it’s just ‘common sense goodness’. 3. Knowledge is the basic building block of ‘faith’. (Rom. 10:17) You can’t go any higher without ‘knowledge’ of God’s Word. 4. Self-control is forth because you can’t get there until you gain enough ‘knowledge’ to know what’s important not to do. As I said, God knows you will make mistakes but they will diminish as you mature and your ‘spirit’ gets stronger. 5. Perseverance is “holding onto one’s faith” in times of trouble or persecution. Notice that it’s achieved after mastering ‘self-control’ (words and actions), which gets you closer to God, so you can resist the devil. (James 4:7)6. Godliness is when your desires begin to align with God’s and you start to see what His perfect will is for your life. (Rom. 12:2)7. Brotherly kindness is ‘doing things for others’, not because you have to, but because you want to. (step 7) Notice how high this step is. This is different from simple ‘goodness’. It takes sufficient ‘faith’, ‘knowledge’, and ‘godliness’ to know how God wants you to ‘serve’. Then, you might be led to do something in church or somewhere else. Remember: It takes all parts of the body and no part is more important than the others. (1 Cor. 12:14-26) 8. Love is the final step but this is not an ‘ordinary love’. John said, “Greater love has no one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Paul said, “Very rarelywill anyonedie for a righteous man, though for a good mansomeone might possiblydare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7-8) As you can see, Peter’s scale goes all the way to the top. I am always encouraged when someone forgives a person on death row. That takes a lot of maturity. Yet, how many would take that prisoner’s place? Jesus did.simple steps below:SalvationAcknowledgementHow to PrayGod’s WordTemptationsSpeechBearing FruitIllustration at bottom:Peter’s Maturity Scale(2 Peter 1: 4-7)