Maturity

I believe that we demonstrate our level of maturity by how we respond when things don’t make sense. When problems occur, when people disappoint us, what we hope for does not turn out the way we had hoped. Much the way Martha expressed her disappointment that Jesus showed up too late to save her brother Lazarus: “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). If we are immature, we will not be able to deal with the emotional chaos. If we are mature or at least maturing, we will trust God to help us make sense of the mess.

When things don’t make sense, we have our most challenging times. While John the Baptist was held in a dungeon, his resentment seemed greater with Jesus than with Herod. He felt betrayed because no prison doors opened; he was brokenhearted, but no Messiah came to bind it up. Most of all, where was judgment for sinners? In bitter disappointment, he asked, “Are you the one that is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus profoundly replied to John’s discouragement: “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me” (Luke 7:23). Jesus told John not to let his disappointment undermine his trust when he didn’t understand God’s ways.

When Jesus responded to John’s question, he did not explain why God’s judgment had been withheld. There was no clarification of why Herod was permitted to stay on his throne and why the Romans were left unchecked. The biggest mystery is why Jesus, who opened blinded eyes and made the lame walk, never offered to free John. However, the one encouraging thing Jesus gave John was this, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me” (Luke 7: 23).

The disappointment John felt in Jesus is seen today in people. They are the people who stop attending church and believing in God as they once did because God didn’t stop the death of their loved ones. They are disappointed because they didn’t get the promotion or gain the coveted success they wanted. Where was Jesus when their marriage was falling apart? These words of Jesus are for us today as much as they were for John. The message that Jesus sent was simply this: “John, you will be blessed if you do not fall away because of your disappointment with the way I choose to work.” And John took heart and remained steadfast to the end.

(Parenting with a Long View) https://bovdbrooks.com/