For some reason there is the pervasive thinking that once you get saved you instantly become mature. Though it may not be said, behavior seems to affirm this. I don’t think so. There is no such thing as ‘instant maturity’. Many times what is said is: “…you need to start attending a good bible believing church.” And/or a Bible is given and the new believer is told to read it, generally to start reading John (2/3rds through the Bible which can be a tad confusing about why one would start near the end of the book).
As good as those intentions are, most new people are left to their own devices instead of being discipled. When you read the Great Commission you see that one of the responsibilities is to disciple new believers to ‘grow them up’. Actually we are told to make disciples first (Matthew 28:19) even before baptism, so this must indicate a priority. The more mature Christian is suppose to teach (verse 20). For some inexplicable reason, this rarely is an activity the church engages in or if they do it is for a short period of time. New believers are precisely that… new.
In one of the parables (Matthew 12:43-45), though talking about deliverance from an unclean spirit, this can also give us an example of what can happen when a new believer is not discipled. I’ve always felt that it was critical that new believers begin to learn who they now are since they accepted Jesus. We should never expect them to do it on their own. When we do, we see that often it is a revolving door and the new believer has left.
Instant maturity doesn’t happen in the natural world when a baby is born. It also doesn’t happen in the spiritual world when a person comes to Christ. Undeniably we each are responsible for our own actions or lack, but without guidance we don’t know what our responsibilities are. We have rights, we have gifts, we have work, we have responsibilities… we are given much but we also need to discipled in order to… mature.
