God’s Love and Spiritual Maturity: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Hope

A Life Hidden in Plain Sight

I want to share a story. "There was a man, quiet, standoffish, and weathered by life. His neighbors didn't like him much. They thought he was weird and didn't know how to take him. He lived alone and finally, he died alone. His belongings were auctioned off by distant relatives who really never knew him.

In an old battered trunk someone purchased, they found journals. The solitary man was a writer and in these worn dollar store journals he had written his life. In his youth he had been a successful salesman, traveling all over the country, doing presentations to many important business leaders.

Tragedy, Despair, and the Dim Mirror of Faith

He had loved once. She had been a beautiful young woman, intelligent, quick-witted, but then tragedy struck. Pregnant with their first child, she was in a terrible car accident and she and their unborn baby died. A church goer, but not very religious, he found little comfort in his faith (Psalm 34:18).

He sank deeper and deeper into despair, was fired from his job, and found work in a small town at a gas station. This was a far cry from the power and influence he once held. Over the years, he kept the sorrow to himself. He learned, or so he thought, that no one really cared. The love he had heard about in church for so many years seemed distant and unattainable.

For him, being a Christian never really changed his life. The people around him judged him without knowing anything about him. Christ's love was rarely offered to him by those who called themselves His servants. The mirror that he saw life through was dimmed, clouded by a lack of faith and a lack of hope."

God’s Love and Spiritual Maturity

Jesus often told stories like this, and then He explained what they meant. Let me try to do the same here. Paul describes it clearly in 1 Corinthians in his chapter on love.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul tells us what love really is. In 1 Corinthians 13:12 he says,

"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."

This verse helps explain why this man could not see God’s love clearly, even though it was always there. When he looked in the mirror, why couldn't he see even get a glimpse of God's love? God was there all the time, through the grief, the loss, and the loneliness, but the man could only see the things he didn't have. The problem was not that God had abandoned him, but something had gone wrong in his understanding of faith and maturity. When we grow in the understanding of God's love, we grow in spiritual maturity.

“The problem was not that God had abandoned him, but that something had gone wrong in his understanding of faith and maturity.”

He gave up looking for it, thinking, as so many of us do at times, that perhaps it was his fault. Maybe if he had been better, different, or more careful things would have been different. The reason he could hardly see in the mirror was that when he "became a man" he never really "put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11). His faith never matured beyond measuring God’s love by what he could see and feel, rather than trusting what God had already revealed about Himself. The things that happen to us in life don't change the fact that we can trust God cares for us.

That raises an important question. What does spiritual maturity actually look like for someone who has spent a lifetime sitting in church? It is not measured by how long we have attended church, but by whether God’s love has reshaped how we see Him, ourselves, and others.

Putting Away Childish Things: What Spiritual Maturity Looks Like

But what does spiritual maturity look like in real life for a lonely, defeated old man? When he grew up and attended church faithfully, he never grew spiritually. He thought the superficial things were all that was needed. Go to church, listen to the sermon, and be a decent person was maturity, he thought. But no, it wasn't.

When we put away childish things, we lose self-focus and begin to love others as God first loved us (1 John 4:19). A mature Christian loves sacrificially, like Jesus did. They see so much more in that dim mirror than a childish one does. But some people, sadly, see nothing in the mirror because they don't belong to Christ.

Some people walk around thinking this is all there is. They have no true hope in anything better or more beautiful or perfect. Spiritually blind, they can't see any reflection in the mirror. These are the people who need Jesus. But how many of them, like our man in the story, never have God's love shown to them by others. How we respond to others’ suffering can make a huge difference.

The Responsibility of Believers to Show Love

Those around him talked about God a lot, yet their words rarely translated into real love for him. They even did nice things for people sometimes, but they were still childish in their understanding that love was the greatest gift they had been given and the greatest gift they could ever give of themselves. Our motives are what God cares about most. Their failure forces us to ask what responsibility believers have toward those who are quietly hurting around them.

Each day we have opportunities to love. Each time we love with our whole heart the mirror becomes a little clearer (Galatians 5:22-23). Christians encourage each other. Every time we love like Christ, we grow a little more in our understanding of who God is. This growth is not just for this life, but prepares us for what is still to come. And it is not just for us, but for us to share with others.

A mature Christian sees himself as he really is. They see their flaws but understand who mends those flaws. Seeking forgiveness they strive to show the fruit of the Holy Spirit that is proof of what they say they are. And finally, when they reach their home with their Savior, the mirror will be the clearest of clear. God knows us perfectly and then we will perfectly know God.

If this is what maturity looks like, then it naturally leads to the question of what God expects from us as His people. The man's neighbors and coworkers should have realized that we all at some point, have been where he was. We have all dealt with grief and failure. God's desire for us as mature Christians is to show love to everyone, including those who seem undeserving or may not even want it, that is when we are living like Christ.

But what about ourselves? What can we do to realize that God really does love us? Even if all of the man's neighbors and coworkers had hated him, he still didn't have to give up because his Father still loved him. But obviously, the man never knew it or at least not enough to make a difference. How do we come to know that "God loves me" is not just some trite saying that means very little?

Trusting God’s Love Beyond Feelings

The answer does not begin with us at all, but with what Christ has already done. Are we ever worthy of God's love? No, we are sinners saved by grace. Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners. He loved the man who was nailing His hands to the cross and the man who shoved the crown of thorns on His head. He died for you and me and them.

We don't go by feelings to know God loves us (2 Corinthians 5:7). Feelings can lie to us and mislead us. He loves us because we can trust His word is true and what greater proof do we have than the death of His Son on the cross.

When that moment comes that we trust Him and seek Him with all of our heart, then we will know He loves us. That knowledge is what will cause us to love the unlovable. We will not judge people by appearances, but will realize they are an image bearer of the One who created them.

Even when we fail to show love to others or fail to live knowing God loves me, He still offers His sacrifice of love on the cross for us. As we grow in spiritual maturity we will be able to experience God's all knowing love and share it so the world will see Jesus in us. They will want the precious gift that we have been given so freely.

Seeing Clearly: Lessons from a Life Missed

The man died alone, his journals unread for years. But perhaps one day someone will read them and see what he never did: that God loved him fiercely, even in the silence. Perhaps that reader will be you or me, and we’ll decide, today, to love the next ‘weird’ person we meet, so that the dim mirror becomes just a little clearer for both of us.