This past Sunday I used the movie Peter Pan as an illustration of what it looks like when Christians don’t want to grow up in their faith. In my message, I contrasted five ways in which mature and immature Christians behave…

• An immature Christian often says the first thing that comes to mind, while a mature Christian runs what she thinks through a Jesus filter before speaking.
• An immature Christian often snipes at those he disagrees with while a mature Christian always speaks the truth in love, and if he cannot speak in love, then he does not speak the truth (he keeps his mouth shut).
• An immature Christian expects things to be fair, while a mature Christian expects the way of Jesus to be difficult and costly.
• An immature Christian only sees today, while a mature Christian looks to the future.
• An immature Christian thinks of “me” first, while a mature Christian thinks of “you” first.

I’d like to add one more contrasting observation to this list, and it’s a doozie…

An immature Christian sees a lost, sinful world and tells it it’s going to Hell, while a mature Christian sees a lost, sinful world and it breaks his or her heart.

So what about you? Do you identify more with the traits of the mature Christian, or the immature Christian?