It's very rare I come across a Christian who actually acts his or her age. I've seen too many believers sit down and throw a "spiritual temper tantrum."

One time a friend and I visited a small church on a Sunday morning. We got there a little early and sat down in the third or fourth row right on the end. A few minutes later, as people started to enter into the sanctuary, our row became absolutely full. Then a woman in her mid 50s or so came over to where me and my friend were seating and crossed her arms and grunted at us.

"Excuse me, those are my husband's and my seats."

I was a little confused to be honest. I mean, it's just a seat after all.

My friend speaks up, "I'm sorry ma'am, we have been here for a while, the row is full, and there is nowhere else to go." You have to understand my friend. He is extremely friendly and kind, but he has a tendency to be a little stubborn. I knew why my friend did not just comply and give her the seat. Her tone was rude and spiteful and her reason for us moving was because it was "her seat." So I awkwardly sat there quietly as this lady went on talking to my stubborn friend.

"Listen here, me and my husband have sat in that seat for five years every Sunday morning, and you will get up and sit somewhere else right now."

At this point I began to chuckle at this whole debate. On one hand I was like, "Dude lets just give her the seat," but on the other I was like, "Lady, you're a grown woman, sit somewhere else and get over it. It's a seat." But I remained quiet and my friend and this lady argued a little more until (and I'm serious, this actually happened) she spat in my friends face, slapped his Bible out of his hand, and yelled out in the church, "ARREST THIS MAN!" She was then dragged out of the church literally kicking and screaming, and her husband quietly stood there and found another seat to sit in. After all that my friend and I stayed in our seats and enjoyed an excellent church service that day.

Now here comes my second story and then I'll hop back on my soapbox:

Another time I decide to church hop and I found myself at another random church on a Sunday morning. It was just me that time. I sat down in my seat and pulled out my Bible and awaited the service. Now this church was interesting--they did a sermon first and then worship afterwards. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Anyways, the pastor got up and said that he would be preaching out of the book of Amos. Now apparently this church had been doing a series where they went through the entire Gospel of Matthew. This had been going on for, I assume, the past couple of months so this was out of order for the congregation. As soon as the pastor said he was teaching out of Amos, an elderly man stood up and waved his fist and screamed, "I came here to listen to a sermon from Matthew! You promised a sermon of Matthew and that's what I want!" The pastor basically told the guy that he apologizes but would not be preaching in Matthew because God had laid it on his heart to preach out of Amos. The old man legit got up, grabbed his wife and grandkids, and forced them all out of the church building with him!

Now what's my point in saying all this?

We as believers need to grow up a little bit. First off, we are grown men and women; let's start acting like it. Christians can become so lost in tradition or in getting what they want that when something happens that goes against this, they completely forget the Gospel message!

We need to grow up. We need to recognize that people don't believe the same things about the Bible like we do. Some people interpret this verse this way, and others that way. Some believe in free will, others predestination. Some families baptize their babies, others wait until the child makes the decision. Now spiritual immaturity can be a good thing. We were all at some point spiritually immature. But staying in that state of immaturity is where the danger lies. We need to grow in our spiritual maturity as well as our emotional and mental maturity. Jesus didn't throw a hissy-fit when he was taken to the cross. He didn't stomp his feet and flail his hands in the air in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed to God. He was mature, He was righteous, and He was holy. And that is what Christians are called to be. We need to grow up and grow our faith and stop acting so immature in our walks with God. We don't need to act like children when we don't get what we want from God. I mean that old man took his family out of church because he didn't get what he wanted. That man's family was robbed of hearing God's Word because of his immaturity. His spiritual immaturity affected his whole family that day.

So at the end of the day, we need to think about our level of spiritual maturity and how we can continue to grow it to be like that of Jesus'.