A sign of immaturity: People who have a hard time standing in the midst of temptation. People can be full of hot air when they leave a meeting or a camp. They can be thrilled or psyched, but as soon as any temptation comes along, they get blown over.
A mature person in Christ doesn't do that. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. It doesn't mean that we never sin or never have temptation. It's not a sin to be tempted. You're going to be tempted for the rest of your life (1 Cor. 10:13). The devil is going to take every shot he can at you.
How Will You Handle It?
The question is: How are you going to face it when he's tempting you? What are you going to do with that temptation? Are you going to barely make it over the hump, sometimes fall, and sometimes be miserable?
Some people feel like that is just the plight of a Christian. They think there's no way that you can ever really overcome - you just keep falling and asking for forgiveness.
The Bible says we don't have to live like that. Jesus set a great example for us when He was being tempted. Read Luke 4:1-13. Look at it closely and think about some of these questions. How did Jesus respond every time He was tempted?
You can see that every time the devil gave Jesus a specific temptation, Jesus quoted the Word of God. That is, He didn't go into temptation hoping He would figure out some way to get out.
He knew the Bible well enough so that when the devil came against Him with a specific thing, He knew exactly how to strike back. You can't strike back at temptation or the devil by saying, "You big meany, leave me alone!"
You need to be so full of the Word of God raging on the inside of you that you have a specific Scripture to hit back with when the devil tempts you. Jesus also taught us to pray...lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (Matt. 6:13).
There are two things you can do to fight temptation. You can pray and ask the Lord to keep you from temptation you are not strong enough to resist. The other thing to do is, before temptation comes your way, fill yourself up with the Word of God.
Do this especially in areas you know you have problems in - whether that is peer pressure, music, boyfriend/girlfriend situations. Find Scriptures so that when you are tempted you don't get blown over.
Getting blown over every time you are tempted, especially with something you have struggled with for a while, is a sign of immaturity. Some people rationalize, "Well, this is just my weakness, and I'm always going in be weak in this area."
Wrong. The Bible says in Joel 3:10, "...let the weak say, I am strong." Areas that you were weak in should become your strongest areas because you get in the Bible and become strong in them.
myths about maturity in Christ by Ron Luce.
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing