Emotional Maturity & Holistic Transformation Bible Study

How well do we love others? How do we respond or react in conflict? Do we know and acknowledge how we’re really feeling? Are we honest with God, ourselves, and others about our emotions? Those are a few questions to ponder when it comes to this topic of emotional maturity. 

Emotional maturity is an important—but often overlooked—aspect of our holistic transformation process. Some of us might feel uncomfortable even talking about our emotions, let alone allowing ourselves to feel them deeply. But growth as a believer encompasses learning to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other words: God is committed to meeting us in every area of our lives, including our emotions.

Many of us grew up with an undeveloped or unhealthy perspective on human emotion. We might have learned to divide our emotions into two categories: good/positive emotions and bad/negative emotions. But the truth is, emotions are morally neutral. They’re not good or bad—they just are. Emotional maturity is about learning to acknowledge, name, and integrate emotion—both ours and others’—into the rest of our life.

Think of your emotions as a warning light on the dashboard of your car. You’re cruising down a crowded freeway at top speed when that warning light flashes on. What do you do? Do you slam on the brakes until you come to a full stop in the middle of traffic? No, that would be dangerous. Do you ignore the light and continue driving as though nothing happened? No, that might be just as dangerous. What you should do is take the next exit, pull over in a parking lot, and pop the hood to figure out what’s going on underneath there.

Emotional maturity begins with “looking under the hood” of our own hearts. What’s going on in there? Can we name what it is we’re feeling? Many of us have spent our lives suppressing our emotions, hiding them away where no one can see them. Perhaps we’ve been afraid of how others would judge us for our emotional responses. Or maybe we were afraid if we let our emotions out, they would overwhelm us with their intensity.

But as we become more aware of areas of our lives we have previously hidden away, and bring them into the light, we see how God wants to meet us in those areas. Allowing God in helps us build bonds of connection based on intimacy, safety, and trust. Over time those connections will grow, as will our capacity to be with, identify with, and empathize with others.

Holistic transformation and emotional maturity go hand-in-hand because as growth happens, you become more of the person God created you to be. Emotional maturity changes how you view yourself and others. Holistic transformation cannot happen without emotional maturity. The article “Epic is About Emotional Maturity and Holistic Transformation” reminds us that “God wants our development and transformation to be more than cognitive. Our development and spiritual transformation are to touch every area of our lives!”