Do you look down on other Christians who don't know as much as you do?Be it about the Bible, church tradition, God, spirituality, etc. I sure used to be. Especially those who were new or weren't as "far along" as I was in knowledge...or as I liked to think of it "spiritual maturity."
I feel this artificial hierarchy of Christians is ingrained in many of us. You look through personal or group study options and you find tons of books with titles touting how to become spiritual mature, or a fully devoted follower of Jesus, or a true disciple, etc etc...
I think it's garbage.
When you look at the disciples as they followed Jesus, there was no segregation based upon experience, knowledge, maturity, etc. Yes Jesus had an inner circle of 12, and a closer circle of 3, but even these kept screwing up. And even after his death & resurrection, when he appeared to the 11 remaining disciples Matthew tells us that as they worshiped him, some still doubted (Matthew 28:17).
These are the people who are supposed to be the fully devoted followers, the spiritually mature, the true disciples.
The ones who doubted. The ones who didn't get it after sign after sign, didn't understand his parables, asked for positions of power, asked to call down lightning to destroy a city, resisted violently when Jesus was arrested...only to run away, abandon and deny him. These are the mature disciples.
I think too many of us make a fake god out of spiritual maturity. By that I mean we seek after it, when we should really be seeking after what God calls us to. And I have a hard time being convinced that Jesus calls us to the type of spiritual maturity we often think of.
And maybe you're not like me. Maybe you didn't used to think less of people whom you deemed "spiritually immature." Maybe you're on the other end.
Maybe you see the people who seem to always talk about their faith & envy them for it. The people who post Bible verses to their Facebook & Twitter statuses, who are always volunteering, leading a small group, teaching a class, and on and on.
I'd hope that you realize that jealousy/envy/whatever emotion it is, is only a lie. That God accepts you at your level of spiritual maturity.
That you are as much of a disciple of Jesus as anyone else. And there's no basis for taking on a "fully devoted, spiritually mature, true disciple, etc" title to try to create any hierarchy otherwise. Don't let someone convince you, or make you feel otherwise.
