Our primary motivation for wanting to mature in life should not be to please others, but rather to please God. God’s opinion is the only One that matters. God is the One we’re supposed to be living for. So we want to learn to think more like He thinks out of a desire to build identity with Him so that our own communion with Him will become richer and deeper. If this sounds selfish, it’s because it is. God created us to be selfish beings, and He wants us to remain selfish about some things. It’s selfish to want to obtain God’s approval, yet this is also a very correct priority for a Christian to have. The altruistic mindset of wanting to help others just to help others is totally off the mark. God didn’t create us for the purpose of going around trying to figure out how we could help other created beings enjoy their lives more. He created us to revolve around Him, and improving our own relationship with Him should be our primary reason for submitting to His maturation program.