G. ADDRESSING EMOTIONAL NEEDS

When I was growing up, I saw everyone around me as more mature and capable than I was. I felt three years behind my peers. As I attended Bible school, someone said “you are cute, but you act like a little kid.”

That was shocking but I decided I wanted to grow up. I started taking responsibility for my actions and saw levels of maturity. I thought over the next 30 years that I was a stable mature leader. When taking an assessment from Peter Scazzero, I discovered that in certain areas I was mature, but I was very immature in other areas. I thought I was an emotional adult when in reality , I was an emotional child and, in some areas, I was an emotional infant. This was shocking but it stirred me to give more attention to moving from infant emotionally to a more mature emotional level of maturity. There is still much to go.

I Peter 2:2:

“Like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

 I John 2:12-13:

“I write to you, dear children because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.   I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you dear children because you have known the Father.

1. What did you observe from these two passages about babies or children?

2. What did you discover about young men?

3. What stood out about Fathers?

4. Why do you think these distinctions are so important?

5. What are some other passages in the Bible that speak to these stages of growth?

6. How do you think this relates to our emotional health?

1. What would be your next step to grow in how these levels relate to our emotional health?

2. What do you discover can be confusing between our physical maturity to our emotional maturity?

3. How would you go about gaining clarity of where you are in your maturity level?

4. When would you like to pursue this clarity?

List similar verses in the Bible: