On Tuesday nights, the Coach has a night class. My typical routine is to take him into school before lunch, and pick him up in the evening so that the Champ can get a car ride home with his daddy before bedtime. A couple of weeks back, as I was strolling around campus with the boys I overheard a couple of freshmen talking about their moms as they were skateboarding in the quad.

“She can’t tell me what to do. I am an adult. I live on campus by myself and everything.”

I chuckled at the statement. This boy was ten years younger than me and had more confidence in his adulthood than I had in mine.

I frequently ask the Coach when my adult card will come in the mail because I simply don’t feel like a “grown-up.” Even though I am married, paid bills for six years, have completed my degree, held a couple of “big girl jobs,” and have two children, I still feel as if I am a little girl playing house.

I pulled out a tube of lip balm from my pocket the next day. When I went to twist it up, it wouldn’t come up anymore. For the first time in my life, I finished a tube of lip balm before it was washed in a pants pocket, lost, melted in the car, or eaten by the dog. Somehow, this empty tube of lip balm felt like a real sign of my becoming a “grown-up.”

There are various definitions of adult: no longer young, not childish or immature, fully grown or developed, mature. I suppose by those worldly definitions, I am definitely a grown-up.

However, am I spiritually grown-up?

“It’s difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature- for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14)

“However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages of our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthinas 2:6-8

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. James 1:5

Perhaps I have been living on the milk of the word for too long. It is tempting to be spoon fed the basics of the Christian faith from the pulpit. However, have I neglected my pursuit of spiritual maturity? Have I been seeking out the more complex aspects of the Word? In order to mature in wisdom, I should be seeking the wisdom of God.

Much like adulthood, spiritual maturity does not come with a card in the mail. But, it will be apparent in the way we live our lives and walk out our faith.

But unlike adulthood, we will never be “fully grown or developed.” We must constantly seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and continue to grow in knowledge over the course of our lives.