In a recent survey, Christians defined “spiritual maturity.” A leading answer of both believers and their pastors was “a personal relationship with Jesus.”
The term “personal relationship with Jesus” bugs me. It’s certainly not a biblical term. Furthermore, personal relationships pretty much develop with people you hang around with and talk to. Jesus is in heaven and He doesn’t talk to you.
The fuzzy notion of a personal relationship with Jesus is primarily based on our feelings. I know people who are disobeying God’s Word left and right and yet claim to have a great relationship with Jesus. This is obviously not because they spend time with Him, it’s because they think they know him.
Osama bin Laden thinks he has a personal relationship with God. Here’s a quote from him, “I saw with my own eyes the remains of one of the pilots. Three fingers, a part of a nerve, the skin of one cheek, an ear, the neck, and the skin of the back. Some Afghan brothers came and took a photo of him as if he were a slaughtered sheep! We cheered. . .I felt closer to God than ever.”
Osama’s relationship with God is based primarily on his own feelings about his experiences in life. This notion of “closeness” with God is nearly identical to modern Christianity. We convince ourselves we’re happy, we cling to a few “victories,” and claim we’re getting along with our buddy Jesus just fine.
A personal relationship with Jesus means what exactly? I know we are told that believers are in Christ and we’re fellow-heirs and there is a brotherhood as God the Father is our mutual Father. I get that, but I don’t think we should take that too familiarly instead of as an illustration of our position in Christ.
It’s bothersome when a non-biblical term is used to define a biblical concept. It’s impossible to have a “personal relationship” with Jesus as it is with an actual person you hang out with. It just doesn’t work that way.
So, what is “spiritual maturity?” I would answer it like this.
A person who has made steps in their transformation into Jesus Christ. A person who is actively following God’s Word, being taught, being humble, exercising love and the fruit of the Spirit, is overcoming sin, Satan and the world and has taken steps to lead others to Christ and has the “scars” to prove it. In other words, one who loves the Lord our God with all his heart, soul and mind and loves his neighbor as himself.
Knowing Christ is not like knowing your golf buddies. This is the eternal, holy God we are dealing with. The holy God who had to kill His own Son just to be able to stomach you being in His presence. Let’s not be overly-familiar in our flippant terminology with He whose ways are past finding out.
anti-itch meditation 
Wow – good post bro. I like where your head is. We can easily hide behind our “personal relationship” with Jesus when we are challenged by others to embrace a moral truth we disagree with. Birth control is a perfect example. More and more Christians are realizing that many forms of birth control are abortafacients and kill God authored life. Contraception is our way of protecting our comfortable lifestyle from a God who doesn’t understand what is best for us. But since “Thou shalt not use birth control” is not specified in the Bible, Christians are conflicted regarding its immorality, and rely on their personal belief of what Jesus commands of them. That said, I wouldn’t dismiss the personal relationship with Jesus idea simply because the terminology is missing from scripture. As you know, the word Trinity is nowhere to be found in scripture but all Christian groups stand on this truth. Our relationship with Jesus is personal in that each of us grow closer to him through different ways, and he continues to reveal himself to us through our personal life experiences and struggles. I have developed profound intimacy with Jesus by receiving his body and blood in communion. Other Christians may not connect with him this way but do so in reading the gospels over and over again. Those who struggle with reading may find intimacy with Jesus through singing songs of praise. I’m all for everyone developing their personal relationship with Jesus, as long as it is grounded in truth. I would challenge you on one point: Jeus is a person, and he does talk to us, and we can talk to him. His ways, to the extent he has revealed them, are not past finding out.
What I mean by the talking to Jesus deal is like the hymn, In the Garden, “and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own” kind of thing. It’s a nice idea, but Jesus doesn’t literally walk and talk with us as I would walk and talk with my wife as we develop our personal relationship.
And, yes, He has given us much in revelation so we can know Him. No argument there. I’m more bugged by the over-familiarity that breeds blasphemous coziness when we view Jesus as a drinking buddy rather than as our Lord and Savior.