IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO BE SPIRITUALLY MATURE WHILE
REMAINING EMOTIONALLY IMMATURE
Dave Stephens
September 25, 2022
Emotions have everything to do with spirituality because we were created by God with emotions. We didn’t create emotions ourselves…although we discover them over time…sometimes we deal with them appropriately, and other times our emotions are out of control.
Philosopher George Santanya said it well, “Those who cannot learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.”
We have to go
All families are broken and fallen…some less than others…but there aren’t any clean family trees. None of us come from perfect families with perfect parents.
But if we aren’t purposeful in looking into our past, (“going back to go forward,”) we will continue to allow unhealed wounds to open us up to habitual sin.
God created a perfect family system, but sin damaged it. Our only way to have a family that bears fruit is to follow Christ. Instead of a cycle of pain, the generation that chooses to follow Jesus sows blessings for future generations. This begins a cycle of blessing rather than dysfunction. God’s principle is that we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7–9). Parents who invest their lives in loving and training their children will see adult children who thrive and walk with Christ (Proverbs 22:6). Children who are loved and valued will honor their parents.
In Genesis the first look into Generations we see Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob.
We can see in this biblical, historical example the way that lying was passed on from generation to generation as a way to deal with issues.
We often underestimate the deep, unconscious imprint our families leave on us. Sometimes there is a pattern of sin and brokenness transmitted through generations.
DR Henry Cloud says…(Changes That Heal)…”God’s desire is not for you to seek healing from your family of Origen but in the body of Christ. That’s why community is so important.”
2. Our emotions are shaped by past
Becoming a disciple of Christ requires us to put off sinful patterns and do life God’s way in God’s family.
The great news of Christianity is that your family of
What has gone before you…or done around you…or done to you…does not have to be the way it is in your life or your children’s!!
The most significant language in the NT is “adoption into the family of God.” It’s a radical new beginning…it’s leaving the past and what we’ve learned or accepted…letting Him make us new! When we place our faith in Christ, we are spiritually reborn by the Holy Spirit into the family of Jesus.
Ephesians 1:4-8
“4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding…”
God’s adoption of us was initiated by God Himself, and the decision to make us His children was made before either we or the world existed. There is a determination — a purpose — on the part of God to enlarge His family by bringing rebels and sinners like us into it.
Ephesians 2:19-22
“19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
In Romans 8:17 Paul says, “Now if we are children (family), then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
According to this verse, we share in the sufferings of Christ now and will share in the glory of Christ later as His “co-heirs” or “joint-heirs.”
The term “heirs of God” emphasizes our
As His children, we have “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade … kept in heaven…” (1 Peter 1:4-5)
The Greek term translated “heirs” in Romans 8:17 refers to “those who receive their allotted possession by right of sonship.”
In other words, because God has made us His children (see John 1:12), we have full rights to receive His inheritance.
We are His beneficiaries.
We are in the family!
In God’s family: