Becoming More by Becoming Less

May 5, 2026

There are Christians who seem to be very spiritually mature. They can recite Bible verses, they pray long prayers with big words, they might serve in the church as pastors or elders. But our emotional maturity reveals the truth about our spiritual maturity. Someone might always need to be right, they can’t receive criticism, they give people the silent treatment, they manipulate others, they say everything is fine when it’s not, they gossip instead of talking directly to someone about a problem. As Pete Scazzero said, it is impossible to be spiritually mature as God defines it, while remaining emotionally immature. These are not just emotional issues. They are spiritual issues.

In Colossians 1:9-12, Paul gives us three areas of growth in maturity, which he calls living a life worthy of the Lord. All three areas of maturity move the focus off of ourselves and onto serving and loving God and others. That word worthy does not refer to our worth. We are not trying to be worthy of God’s love. God settled the issue of our worth before we were even born. He created us in his image, and he died on the cross for us and he invited us into his family. Worthy means in balance. Maturity is living a life that is in balance with what God has already done for us and how he calls us to live.

God Grows Us Through Good Works

Good works is one of those recurring themes that Paul repeats over and over through his letters. Good works don’t save us or earn God’s love, but they produce maturity in us and build God’s kingdom here on earth. Paul ties bearing fruit in every good work directly to growing in the knowledge of God (v. 10). That connection is, in the data, a real and observable pattern: Barna Research has found that Christians who regularly serve in their communities are three times more likely to report active spiritual growth compared to those who attend church but do not serve.

Becoming great is the same thing as growing in maturity in Christ, and it requires becoming a servant. Someone who is great in the world is served by others. But in God’s kingdom, it is just the opposite. This is why God’s kingdom is called the upside-down kingdom. Jesus turns human logic upside down.

Good works are acts of service, care, love, and justice that live out our covenant with God, reveal his reign, and build his Kingdom on earth. In Matthew 25, Jesus makes a direct link between our good works and our relationship with him: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Good works are inseparable from our relationship with Jesus. No one can truly know Jesus except that they love, serve, and care for others, as Jesus did. Good works, service, and acts of love and justice are not optional side quests on our journey to heaven.

When you become a helper in children’s church, when you cook a meal for someone, when you pray, invest, and invite a neighbor, God is working to form you in the image of Christ.

God Grows Us Through Spirit-Powered Endurance and Patience

The word for power in verse 11 is dunamis, the same root word as dynamite. It is used 120 times in the New Testament. It refers to the power of the Holy Spirit in us to get things done. This life of maturity in Christ is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes the power of the Holy Spirit is undeniable in our lives, and we never want to leave that place. But many other times the power of the Holy Spirit does not feel like winning. Sometimes this is what it looks like: when you love the unlovable, when you serve the ungrateful, when you forgive the unforgivable, when you give to the undeserving. This is when God’s power in you shines the brightest, even though it might not feel like it.

The word for endurance refers to not giving up in hard circumstances, and patience is related to not giving up on difficult people. When we were immature, we gave up quickly when circumstances got hard, and we were quick to anger, resentment, and impatience when people were hard. Maturity, powered by the Holy Spirit, endures difficult situations and is slow to become angry or resentful with difficult people.

Corrie ten Boom and her family hid Jewish families during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. After her arrest, she survived the Ravensbruck concentration camp, where her sister Betsie died. Corrie later said: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”

God Grows Us Through Gratitude

What is the opposite of gratitude? Entitlement. I deserve it. I’ll be grumpy if I don’t get it, in the way I want, and on time, because I deserve it. I shouldn’t even have to ask for it. Living a life of gratitude is not for the sake of an insecure God who is easily bent out of shape when we don’t thank him. Gratitude is about continually bringing our hearts into alignment with God’s reality.

When your car tires are out of alignment, it doesn’t drive straight. The car will always be pulling off to one side. When our hearts get out of alignment with God, it starts pulling our attitudes off to the ditch of entitlement, discontent, and complaining. Our memory of what God has done for us is short. We quickly forget. Gratitude is a continuous reminder that even if things are not great right now, we have already received so much from God.

Gratitude says, “I will choose to give thanks to God, not based on my circumstances but on what God has already done for me.”

I don’t ever remember having great respect for someone who continually complained or acted entitled all the time. The mature people in my life that I look up to are quick to give thanks. Gratitude is foundational for maturity in Christ because it acknowledges what God has done and trusts God for what we need in the present and future.

Which One Is God Growing in You?

Service and good works as a path to experiencing and knowing God. Is your life so busy that you don’t have time to know God through serving others? It might mean you have to make a choice about your schedule. Maybe God is putting someone on your heart right now.

Endurance and patience. Sticking with difficult situations and people comes from being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. Endurance and patience bring glory to God and produce maturity in us.

Gratitude. Gratitude doesn’t take away our challenges. It takes our blinders off, so our difficulties are not the only thing we see. It lets us see all that God has done for us and has promised for our future.

Maturity is like steel. Steel is up to ten times stronger than iron, but it has to go through a process to become that strong. It is put into the fire of a forge until it is red hot, it is hammered until it is formed into something useful, then it is rapidly cooled in water to solidify its new form. And what comes out is something that is beautiful and strong, not easily broken, but reliable to accomplish a purpose.

Are we willing to go through the uncomfortable and inconvenient process in order to be formed into the image of Christ?