Meat for Maturity focuses on resources for biblical spiritual formation and biblical spiritual theology. Spiritual formation is the process of becoming what God intended us to be, in Christ. In other words it is recovering the fullness of the broken image of God inside us. Since Christ is the perfect example of what a completely restored human looks like, spiritual formation is focused on being “Christformed”.
Biblical spiritual formation focuses on what the Bible teaches about spiritual formation. Thus, we draw on scripture as well as the 2000-year history of the church to help believers grow. We focus on the importance of Christian community, life in the Spirit, and loving God. The Christian life is the way of the Cross and Resurrection and it is a life of humility.
Spiritual theology is the theology of Christian growth, what the Reformers referred to as sanctification. Biblical spiritual theology seeks to find the principles and patterns of spiritual theology in scripture. From there we can .earn from the great Christian teachers God gave the Church over the centuries and develop a full spiritual theology that actually guides people into substantial Christian growth.
We want to help believers become mature and able to bring others to maturity. We want to help individuals, pastors, spiritual directors, professors, life coaches, covenant communities, and any organizations promoting Christian spiritual growth. If you are involved in discipleship or spiritual formation we have resources for you. We provide teachings and resources for your growth as well as for equipping you to help others grow. New resources will be continually added.
Email us at meatmature@gmail.com with questions you have about growth and resources for helping others.We would like to hear your feedback and what topics you are interested in.
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The Great Commandment of Jesus is to love God with our whole selves, and second to love others. This means Christianity is about relationships as well as truth. Christianity consists of three communities: the Trinity, the family of God, and the marital community between Christ and his bride. The Christian life is about growing in our “community” with God and our community with others.
Our community life is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit, in real and noticeable ways. The New Testament constantly reminds us that it is the Spirit who is at work to change us and to make us one. Christian growth requires openness to the Spirit and a willingness to follow His leadings.
Perhaps the two most common barriers to growth are pride and lack of intention. Pride produces an unwillingness to humble ourselves; to die to self, to submit to God and find people who can help us. Pride blocks us from the start.
The second common barrier is the failure to be intentional; it is the lack of will. We let the common flow of life control us. Knowing we should pray doesn’t help if we don’t activate our will. Knowing we should find help and expose our heart to someone doesn’t help if we just think about it.The mystery of the interplay of God’s will and human will has never been understood. But we do know that God is offering a deeper life and we need to receive it. It is not a matter of us making it happen but it is a matter of being intentional, of “striving” towards the “prize”. It is a paradox that the ones who have experienced the rivers of God’s grace are the ones who have been the most intentional. Even if what must be intended is to sit quietly and listen. Whether we are active or passive our choice is always Him.
Another common issue is feeling like we hit a wall. You’ve seen your life change but now you feel like you’re not really connected with God; you are not changing like it seems you should. You are wondering what to do.”What is blocking me?” “How do I connect to the “river of life” Jesus talked about?” “How do I experience deep transformation to be like Christ?”
The mission of Meat for Maturity is to meet all these needs.