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Many people grow physically but remain undeveloped emotionally. But God’s desire is to bring fullness and maturity into every area of our life including our emotions. The key to emotional maturity lies in understanding and living out the fruit of a mature soul through the work of Jesus Christ.
Emotional immaturity has and always will be something that we all start off with. No one is born emotionally mature as babies or as Christians. That’s because emotional maturity is directly connected to a brokenness of the soul and heart brought about by our sinful nature. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
When I was a young believer, I admit to having plenty of emotional issues. My issue was not that I was moody, but that I always let my emotions dictate my actions regardless of the rationality of it. Only later did I fully surrender my emotions and will to God. I’m not perfect yet, but I have learned to gain better control of my emotions.
Chances are that you have struggles with your emotions today: Maybe you worry too much, get discouraged easily, lose your temper too fast or just don’t know how to process and handle emotions. Emotional maturity has nothing to do with emotional perfection, but emotional progress. The goal is to be made perfect in every way (Hebrews 10:14), but we do it one step at a time one emotion at a time.
When it comes to growing emotionally, we have to understand that it starts with a choice. No, you can’t choose to be happy, sad or angry, but you can choose what to do with it. But most of the time, our will power cannot be enough. That’s why we need the intervention of the Holy Spirit who only comes through faith in Christ. If Jesus can cure you of your sin, he can definitely cure you of your emotional brokenness.
Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” When connected to God’s Spirit, we can grow in a fruit that produces emotional maturity. In one way or another, your emotional maturity will ultimately lie on your ability to put full dependence on God’s Spirit to provide us with wisdom and to give us the will to act according to His faithfulness, not our moodiness.
No, God will not take away your pain overnight, but He will give you perseverance. God won’t erase your emotions, but He will grant you self-control. He won’t always alleviate your burdens- although many times He can and He will- but He will always be ready to surround you with peace and everlasting joy even in the midst of trial.
