1. The Faith Journey
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THE FAITH JOURNEY
Nothing could be clearer: the aim and purpose of the whole impact of the Christian faith is to produce maturity. And nothing is more gloriously breathtaking than the pattern of that maturity; the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. . . .
If I write of maturity from an experience stretching across half a century, learned among all nations of the world, I know that maturity does not come by accumulated experiences. It comes through basic responses to grace. I am as mature as my basic responses to grace. And no more mature. . . .
So maturity is not a matter of age but of attitudes. And these changed attitudes can be sudden and lasting. But they may also be gradual. But in either case you become mature to the degree that you relate yourself to God, respond to God’s grace, and work it out in life. Receptivity to grace is the secret of maturity.
Christian Maturity
(Introduction, viii, xi)