XX: Grow Up

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
- Hebrews 5:11-12

The writer of Hebrews wants us to grow up, to mature in our faith. In essence, he is saying "Friend, I'd like to teach you a lot more, but you just aren't ready for it. I want to give you meat, but you are a spiritual baby. Yes, I know you've been a Christian for a while, but you haven't grown. You're still a baby in the faith. Instead of always being fed, you should be giving out truth and grace to other people. In fact, you've forgotten what I taught you before. You need to hear the basics to get it right."

If a respected teacher of the word said this to us, we would feel ashamed and appalled... but we would probably feel like he was rebuking us with corrective criticism... wanting us to be growing, imparting God's word on others, responding to sin with greater hate for it in our lives...

"One of the things that demonstrates how far we've come is how we respond to sin. Those who are stuck as infant Christians get as close to sin as they can, or they dive right in. God's holiness judges the sine of the world -- and the sin in your life and my life. Yes, we're forgiven, but God still hates the sin in our lives. Don't we hate it? If we do, it will break out hearts when we sin, and we'll be incredibly grateful when we experience his forgiveness. He loves us even when we are still infant Christians, but he doesn't want us to stay that way. Peter tells us there is a primary reason people fail to grow spiritually."

2 Peter 1:5-11

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Peter knows that "thankfulness for our forgiveness and glad obedience are the signs of someone who is growing in his faith... When we feel his love and we want to honor him more than anything in the world, our desires change. Our lifestyles change... If you can't make God's truth a high priority, you need to reschedule your time."


I read this passage and thought, guilty as charged.

There was a time in my life where I tried to explain my faith to a friend, but I didn't know God's word well enough to completely explain my faith to her. I said some foolish comments because I didn't get in my Bible enough. I didn't let God overflow into my whole life, just part of it.

While explaining my faith in the One True God, I was missing the point. God was showing me that I needed to get to know him more. He still taps me on the shoulder and reminds me, "I want more. More of your time. More of your energy. More of you... More of me in you."

There are times when I am persecuted when I want to dive into my Bible more and get to know God more and more. And share him more and more. This is something, I continually work on because God never stops revealing himself to us and never stops showering us with grace, calling us into a more intimate relationship with him.