I was driving home this week from a class I was taking and was thinking about Christian maturity. It seems many times that people substitute things they "do" for what they "are". To be a disciple of Christ we need to have a balance of three things: being, knowing, and doing. If we overemphasize any one of these components we end up being a lopsided, out of balance believer. It seems to me that many people think that service=maturity. Now don't get me wrong service is very important, but it does not equal maturity, it is merely one component in spiritual maturity. I know this because you can be a great servant and not even be a believer in Christ, in fact some of the greatest servants are often not believers. So what I'm saying I guess is that you can't be mature without serving, but you can serve without being mature. Next time someone implies you are not mature, don't pull out your list of things you are "doing" as you proof of maturity, spiritual maturity in bigger than that. Just a thought!
PM