The Biggest Problem in the World

The biggest problem in the world today is a lack of spiritual maturity. I’m specifically not talking about “religion.” It's done quite enough damage, thank you. I’m talking about the human soul. Only a sick soul wants to kill. Only a sick soul wants to steal. Only a sick soul wants to suppress and oppress others. Only a sick soul doesn’t give a damn about the planet on which we all depend. Only a sick soul can’t get their mind off their crotch (or someone else’s).

One can’t force spiritual maturity. It’s not something you can TRY to be because it is the evidence, the result of a relationship. It’s just like you can’t keep the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule and BECOME righteous. You naturally keep them when you ARE righteous. (Yes, I know that no one is perfect and we all fall.)

Jesus is the example of spiritual maturity. You can’t “go to church” and learn to be that way. You can’t attend religious meetings and take detailed notes and hope to attain spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity comes from spending time with God – One on one. He’s the source not pastors, priests, choirs, TV evangelists, or best-selling Christian books. Not only do they not help you in your maturity, often they are obstacles. At best they may stimulate you to think something through. At worse, if you revere them, they become idols – something poisonous to your relationship with God. Anything you allow between you and God is a bad thing.

No matter how much you love someone and want to help them their spiritual maturity is their own journey. Spiritually mature people display certain traits that stand in bold contrast to spiritually immature people:
* Self-sacrificing when necessary vs. self-serving, self-centered behavior
* Comfortable and content in solitude vs. a need for company
* Not caring for or disliking recognition vs. a craving for recognition
* An outright disdain for abundant material possessions vs. a tendency toward materialism
* Frequently craving silence vs. an almost constant need for a TV to be on, a cell phone conversation, a computer game, music or radio playing, etc.
* Wanting only enough money to be independent and free vs. a desire for wealth, power, and status
* Desiring only simple, natural food in small quantities to maintain health vs. a desire for abundant gourmet meals
* Annoyance when a human fleshly need rears its head vs. a drive to satisfy human fleshly needs as often as possible
* Seeing the “big” picture vs. a life filled with superficial concerns
* Compassion, concern and a connection with other living thing vs. regarding other living things as either disposable or less deserving
* No fear of their own death vs. a great fear of their own death

These are not personality traits so much as they are traits of spiritual health or symptoms of spiritual illness. It’s a report card.