What Does the Bible Say About Growing Up?

“What Does the Bible Say About Growing Up?”

How old are you? Not on paper. On the inside.

Some people are forty and still get offended like a child, waiting for someone else to make decisions for them. Others are very young but already know how to love, forgive and care for others. Your age on a document and your inner maturity are two different things.

Growing up usually happens in three stages.

First, we are dependent. A child trusts their parents completely and relies on them for everything. It’s a beautiful season, but it can’t last forever.

Then comes independence. We want to figure out who we are, make our own choices and stand on our own two feet. It’s a season of searching, arguing and rebelling. We easily notice other people’s flaws, but we can’t yet see our own.

Then comes real maturity. A person can manage on their own but chooses not to. They build a family, help people and become part of something bigger than themselves. A mature person doesn’t live only for themselves.

Moving from one stage to the next is never easy. It’s scary to let go of childhood, and it’s scary to give up your independence. The Bible shows that one thing carries us through each of these crises: humility. It’s the willingness to say, “I don’t understand everything,” “I’m sorry” and “I need other people.”

Jesus showed this best. God doesn’t need anyone, yet out of love He came to people, became one of us and humbled Himself for our sake, all the way to the cross. That is mature love: love that chooses to give.

Even the apostle Paul, one of the best-known people in history, wrote about himself:
“I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal” (Philippians 3:13–14, ESV).

THE GOOD NEWS

🙌 At any stage, it’s never shameful to grow. The only shame is in getting stuck.

And real growing up begins with something surprising: becoming a child again. The Bible says that when a person believes in Jesus, a new life is born in them. Jesus said:
“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3, ESV).

God doesn’t need your achievements, your experience or the right words. He wants your trust, simple and childlike. No matter how old you are, to God you are His child, and He loves you.

You can start right now: “God, I want to start over. I believe Jesus died for me. Forgive me and lead me. I want to grow close to You.”

From that moment, a life with room to grow begins.

How old are you today?