We need to talk regularly to other Christians about the panoramic view of God’s dealings with His people throughout the ages. We must condition our conversations to have God at the center, His activity as the hub of our worldview. To express in words about how He is shaping our lives. I do not have in view a plastic, cliche’-filled conversation.

Are you saying that ALL of my conversations should drip with “churchee” expressions?

No. However, mature Christians never linger away too far from expressing Jesus to others because Christ IS their life. It may not be spelled out in Scriptural injunctions, but it will flavor their conversation. It is not contrived, it is spontaneous. It is not plastic, it is organic to who they are.

Therefore, the regularity of conversing about Jesus is, at the same time, both a sign and a warning. A sign that a person is maturing to see everything they do revolve around a God-shaped outlook in life. It also serves as warning to those who do not engage in conversations about Christ must not see Him as the center of their worldview. What other option is there, really?

Furthermore, as maturing Christ-followers develop this habit, the Church in general will mature since Christians will be incited with the knowledge of how good and great Jesus Christ is. Is this not precisely what the writer of Hebrews had in mind when he said:

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (ESV) Heb. 10:23-25.

As we all chase Christ in our conversations, we will also discover Christians who are more mature, who can help us consider the grandeur of God’s work in their lives as well. Through it all, we want to be a community of Christ-followers reflect who God is through the prism of their lives. The principle agent in the dynamic we are talking about is the church.

Where do you go from here?

1. Evaluate how much you speak of Jesus to others. Remember, this is not a contest, but a diagnostic. The principle is that we speak about what we are passionate for.

2. Spend time studying and thinking through the greatness of God (see part I)

3. Are you a member of a Church, a local group of followers of Christ? Are you attending, serving, praying, giving, etc., to and with a group of fellow disciples of Jesus Christ? If you see Church as an option, you are definitely not a mature Christian and you are not going to be a mature Christian unless this changes.

4. Make it a point of your schedule to regularly hang out with more mature Christians (who are in the church you attend) who can serve as a type of spiritual tour-guide helping you mature in your walk with Christ. Commit yourself to being discipled by someone who has walked the landscape of the greatness of God, who has held Jesus tight in times of difficulty. A person who knows both the valleys and the mountain tops that is the Christian life.