My roommate in college was a psychology major. She once told me that “maturity is really just knowing when to trust your intuitions.” I thought that it sounded good, but I couldn’t match that idea to my life. Ever since then her definition has come back to me and I begin to think I understand it.

If “intuition” is the discernment between “true” and “false”, based not on tangible evidence but purely on an inner “sense”, then it must be a channel by which the Holy Spirit of God communicates to us. If God is Truth itself, then through His Spirit we have some access by our intuitions to discern truth and falsity in our own lives. Such knowledge would lead to maturity if it is coupled with faith in our God.

ST. Paul wrote about our “inner being” and coupled it with faith: “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Ephesians 3:16)

Throughout the Bible it is the “inner being” that is in play in each of the stories of God’s people: “Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness”. (Genesis 15:6) Moses, Joshua, David, and Jehoshaphat, among others, all knew and believed that their battles were always the Lord’s, and those battles were victorious.

Experiencing the voice of God in our inner being is a gift of the Holy Spirit of God, and as my friend suggested, can lead to maturity: “We will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching. . . Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14)

Maturity in Christ means praying our love for Him, remaining close to Him, and imperceptibly becoming like Him in the eyes of God. Jesus is our older brother, like us and like our Father God, the one whose life gives our lives meaning and purpose, and the bridge between us and God.

At some point in every relationship we pause to ask ourselves “What are we doing together?” When we ask this of our God in our inner being, we are answered in our intuition, and grow in maturity.

Love in Him,

Prue