Read Hebrews 5:11-14
‘Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth.’ – A.W. Tozer
When did you become an adult? When you got your driving license? Or maybe when you left home? Did someone sit down with you and say that you are now an adult? Did emotional maturity have anything to do with it, or was it purely age-based? This might sound sad, but for me it was to be able to sit with the adults at family gatherings, and no longer being side-lined to the kiddie-table! Maturity is the natural order of events for all of us. However, spiritual maturity doesn’t seem so natural!
If you could rate your spiritual maturity from 0 to 10 (0 meaning you have yet to give your life to Jesus, 1 being a baby and 10 being a super Christian), where would you place yourself?
In verse 12, we are told that there are elementary truths to be held and believed in, in order to be considered mature. These are simply (and I use that word purposefully) the core doctrines that we believe about Jesus and the Christian life. You can look ahead to tomorrows passage (6:1-2) for the 6 fundamentals that the writer to the Hebrews wants his readers to reaffirm and take hold of. More than just knowing and believing the fundamentals of the Christian faith, they should have been teaching these things! However, they had not progressed in their Christian life at all. Still drinking milk, never learning to chew on the wisdom and instruction of the Word of God. This resulted in their poor judgement, unable to distinguish between good and evil.
Dear reader, don’t misunderstand me. Being an infant is not a bad thing! For all Christians must first be babies in the faith as they move from death to new life in Christ. The point, however, is to not stay a baby! As we naturally progress physically, we are to mature and grow spiritually. If you’ve been a Christian for a while, and yet are not actively involved in a life of ministry, helping to feed and grow newer believers, unable to discern God’s will and unwilling to distinguish a life that pleases God from a life that doesn’t – then you are still drinking milk, and you need to stop it. You must mature! Perhaps you think I’m being overly harsh, but today this is required as we match the tone of the author of this passage. Our Christian lives are serious. Rate yourself again, be honest and resolve to mature!
Reflect
- Has there ever been a time where you felt closer to God than perhaps you do now? What do you think is stopping you from a mature faith?
- Can you make one small step towards spiritual maturity today? Write it down and commit to doing it.
- In what way could you step up and serve the church in this time? Heres one way that comes to my mind: as restrictions slowly ease, and people begin to meet up again, some small groups will continue to be restricted by size. Perhaps you could step out and help the grew as a second leader? Thats just one way, there are others, I’m sure!
Pray
Father God, thank you than when you save us, you don’t leave us where we are, but give us a goal and purpose to work towards. Help us to make every effort to grow in our relationship with you, so that we too can point others towards your forgiveness in Jesus. Amen.