Maturity
Every day we read or hear about troubling events involving actions that don’t seem to make much sense. Adult people doing things that defy understanding. One is inclined to ask, “What were they thinking?” And what they were thinking seems to be the issue. The level of mature thought is slipping and the ability to self-govern is weakening.
The governing systems of the modern-day nations of Israel basically expect their populations to self-govern using the rule of law. While most of these laws are man-devised, they are intended to create an orderly society. In other words, they have democratic government rather than autocratic dictatorship. For a democracy to work well, the citizens are required to act responsibly toward the laws and norms of society.
Children need the guidance of adults to help them learn how to control their emotions and to make rational decisions. Children develop best with both a father and a mother in a healthy family environment. The maturity nurtured and self-control learned in this God ordained environment then flows out into the broader spectrum of society.
If we remove a stable family environment from the picture, then we set up the reality of children growing up to be immature adults. A fact of life today is the destruction of the family unit. “Among the 130 million households in the United States, only 17.8% feature married parents with children – down from over 40% in 1970, according to the Census Bureau.”
This is a shocking statistic and helps to answer, “What were they thinking?” Without maturity and self-control, we have the mayhem of self-centeredness and aggression that we observe around us.
God is allowing our nations to destroy themselves – from the inside out. He gave Israel all the tools needed for a healthy, happy national community. By rejecting God, Israel and indeed the whole world has been slowly losing the solid base for healthy government – the family.
We have been individually called to demonstrate a restored relationship between God and man. Those whom the Father calls have their minds open to the gospel. The Apostle Paul referred to, “… the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
As we respond to God’s calling, we receive “the power of God to salvation.” We are reconciled to the mind of God. We become sons of God, members of His begotten family.
Through our God-family relationship we learn self-control. We learn how to self-govern in the interest of the human representation of God’s spiritual family – the Church. The Holy Spirit is the power for self-control. “But the fruit of the Spirit is … self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
The world does not have access to that power. So, in the absence of God’s guidance, immature self-centered thinking is the order of the day. As we are told, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls” (Proverbs 25:28). Our environment is as a city broken down and without walls.
Let us dwell on the Apostle Paul’s admonition, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
We have the responsibility to properly represent God in this broken environment. We have a sound and healthy spiritual family environment in which we learn to self-govern. We are to be beacons of maturity in a very immature world.
Feast of Tabernacles 2022
As of today, the church website has the information for making hotel bookings at the Residence Inn, Oxnard. It can be found at Feast of Tabernacles 2022 – Church of God. You may make reservations at your convenience.
Although an 800 number is given, experience shows that it is better to call the hotel directly. Most of our problems in the past have been from members using the 800 number and dealing with someone off site with little or no knowledge of our contract with the hotel.
Information regarding activities will come later.
Brian Orchard
