To realize that one is complete in Christ is sure proof against the dangers of immature Christianity – the constant search for spiritual novelties, the unnecessary anxieties and fears over status or requirements, the pride over small ‘achievements’ – which threaten Christians in the modern world no less than in the ancient world.

N.T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon (p. 45)

A mature community cultivates a lifestyle of love in the midst of market-style exchanges, a lifestyle of joy in the midst of manufactured desire, peace in the midst of fragmentation, patience in the midst of productivity, kindness in the midst of self-sufficiency, goodness in the midst of self-help, faithfulness in the midst of impermanence, gentleness in the midst of aggression, and self-control in the midst of addiction.

J.R. Woodward, Creating a Missional Culture (p. 31)