In June, 1974, I met Bev, the woman who became my life partner six months later. It was ‘love at first sight’ that Sunday morning. Instantly, I knew that she was a woman I would pursue. That Summer and Fall we spent hours together, talking and dreaming. Just a touch produced euphoria. We were intoxicated with each other’s person. We were convinced that we were ‘perfect together’ though we knew next to nothing about each other! The letters I wrote to her during that time are stored away with other memorabilia from our life. Several years ago, I took them out and read from them to our kids. My over-the-top ardent prose evoked gales of laughter. I felt no embarrassment for that kind of infatuation is exactly as it should be for those newly in love! It was the season of romance.
Today we are team, very much in love, but the nature of that love has changed remarkably. The fireworks have become a steady flame. We are perfect together not because we are ‘just the same,’ as we thought we back then. We fit so well together precisely because we are so different, which causes us to be complementary. We still hold hands when we sit next to each other, but the touch does not make us high like it did in 1975. Our relationship is now ‘ritualized,’ the routines of our shared life providing stability and security, which allows us to be productive adults in our world. In case you think this is sad or some kind of loss, I’d suggest otherwise. The love we share after 35 years of life is incomparably better than the ‘love’ we shared in the Summer of ’74!
My point? In the disciple’s life there needs to be a maturing of relationship with God that moves from romance to religion! Religion is not necessarily a bad word. It is simply a way of life ordered by a commitment to God! Much contemporary Christian literature celebrates the romance of personal faith, lauding the moment of conversion and the euphoria of new-found faith. It is good to know that Christ Jesus still excites those who are found by Him and given the gift of faith that leads to spiritual transformation. The romance of the Spirit is euphoric, intoxicating even. Tragically, it is implied by some that the mature Christian life will continue to be marked by the same level of excitement indefinitely which sets up an expectation that cannot be fulfilled and leads many disciples to conclude that their faith is flawed. In truth, just as a marriage matures, so does a Christian.
The Scripture urges us to “stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God." (Hebrews 6:1, NLT) The ideal of the Christian is not the early romance of new, yet instable, faith. It is the mature, enduring, persevering faith that produces the steadiness we see in this passage that Paul wrote to Timothy as he faced death for the sake of the Lord: “I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return." (2 Timothy 1:12, NLT)
Disciple, grow on in Christ Jesus. Don’t mourn or resist the inevitable changes in your relationship with Him. Instead, continue to let it mature. No, don’t settle for apathy. Indifference is not to be mistaken for mature love. I am passionately committed to my wife, deeply in love with her, with commitment only deepened by time’s passing. Jesus warns of ‘forsaking our first love!’ (Revelation 2:3 NIV) His desire is that He is always the first in our priorities, the One to whom we are devoted. However, He calls us to develop into "fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ." (Ephesians 4:13, The Message)
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