Today my mom would have been 89 years old. Her legacy carries on in the lives of my children and grandchildren. They may not always know it but they get the best of her through me. When I take them places about history or science, I am reliving her life. She empowered me to think and understand.

This morning I sat here and thought about people. Sometimes their fickleness. Sometimes their faithfulness.

Everyone will run to a dream conference. Or a conference on the supernatural. But how many run to pray to pray in their local church? How many run to clean or to wash toilets? Not a rebuke, but simple questions. Life is revealed on the mountaintop and lived in the valley.

Over the last few years there are words that have arisen and I am excited for them. Destiny, identity, prophecy, grace and gifts. They have gathered new wind in their sails. I am ecstatic. These are the “words” that describe a better life. But so many are getting the cream without recognizing the rest of the milk. And some of that is okay. May you never have to walk through some of the things of our generation. Ever. Let me ceiling be your floor. Stand on what we have carried out. Reach higher, stretch further, touch deeper than we ever did. BUT…never forget the words of faithful, salvation and integrity that provided the impetus for these things. Words like character get bandied about, but until the rubber meets the road these things are often just words.

Jesus said “will I find faith”. Luke 18:8.

“Being relevant isn’t mirroring the world around you, it’s modeling what they long to become.”-Bill Johnson

We are in a time where salvation seems to mean less. Angels still drop what they are doing for the saving of one. The cheering so loud. Yet, somewhere I sense we want to be careful of how we speak of it. How we get to there. Where are the testimonies? I look at all that goes into a birth these days. All the preparations, the parties and the celebration of a child. Where is our celebration of salvation? I am not upset but simply curious. “How must I be saved?” What must I know?

I can tell you when I write whether it will pop or drop. Topics like dreams and visions will spread like wildfire. I get it. It is exciting. We want hope. We want positivity in our lives. If I write about healing many will jump on board. But if I push just a little about character or integrity, people gloss over it, their eyes roll back. And the numbers drop.

I am not so sure we have a “sin” issue as much as we have a maturity issue. The desire to seek the easy way out is rising. From the least to the most. To “man up” is not popular. I watched a race the other day and there was an accident. One man took the credit. “My bad, my fault. All on me.” Wow! Give me ten of him. I could care less whether he won. He rose miles in my eyes. Integrity. No blame shifting.

The fatherless we see is a result of the faithlessness we see. Over time I have seen too many rising stars burn out because the maturity was not the there. The faith to heal was there but not the faith to stick it out. Painful.

We have avoided the word disciple. Sidelined salvation. Chosen what to talk about and what to avoid.

Maturity is not just getting older, though you will gain wisdom. Maturity is doing the “hard stuff” when you feel like doing “no stuff” or only “fun stuff”.

That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…. Philippians 2:15

May our next season see the mature saints of God back in play. May we value maturity and wisdom. May salvation, faith and integrity not just be words but what we exemplify in our lives.

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of facts within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity. Calvin Coolidge

All who enter the Kingdom are called as sons of God, but are we willing to meet the cost of becoming MANIFESTED sons. The world will not change without the mature sons of God. Will you buckle down and saddle up?

Romans 8:16-19 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation[unveiling–the removal of the fleshly nature] of the [mature]sons of God.

Not popular… but then sometimes growing up isn’t.