Hebrews 5 - 5.13.24

Scripture

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭5‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT

“You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.”

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Observation

The author is urging for spiritual growth and maturity amongst the believers. The author knows that some of them have been Christians for awhile, yet they still seem to be messing up over and over again regarding the same issues. They still can’t distinguish between right and wrong. The author compares them to babies. They need to be spiritually fed milk. They have not yet matured enough to even eat solid food. So the author implores the reader to not be stagnant in their faith. They need to be constantly growing.

Application

Striving for spiritual growth.

Imagine for a moment; a full grown adult, still drinking from a baby bottle, needing to be hand fed everything with a spoon, while a grownup makes airplane noises as they spoon feed them each bite? Pretty silly right? Then why should it be any different when it comes to our spiritual growth?! We who have been following Jesus for awhile now shouldn’t be acting the same as we did when we first became Christians. There should be some sort of growth and spiritual maturity in our lives. We shouldn’t want to be that Christian who has been following Jesus for years and years, and yet seem to be repeating the same grade over and over again. We need to strive to be maturing and progressing in our walk with God each and every day.

But how does that look like?🤔

Well, first of all it starts by not just depending on a Pastor to teach you God’s Word on Sunday mornings. We should learn to “feed ourselves” by getting into God’s Word daily and journaling about what we are learning. We should be more involved in church Bible Studies and serving in church ministry. It should also show in our personal prayer life. Don’t just depend on others to pray for us like they have special access to God. We have that same access to God ourselves too! So take it to the Lord in prayer. Spend some quality time with God thanking Him, praising Him, asking for your needs and praying for others. We should be living a life where we are learning from our sinful mistakes. We need to ask for God’s forgiveness, and turn away from those mistakes. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us the strength and discipline to not repeat those same sinful mistakes again. And finally, a mature growing Christian is one who should be sharing their faith and making disciples wherever they go-(see Matthew 28:18-20). Don’t just keep the Good News of Jesus to ourselves, share it with others!

It’s definitely a process that each of us has to work on each day. I believe the “churchy” word for it is sanctification. It’s the process of becoming more like Jesus (perfect) each day. It’s something we won’t be able to accomplish until God calls us home. But until then, we need to keep striving, keep grinding, and keep growing. 😊

“Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” -Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬ ‭

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

I pray for not only myself, but Your Church. I pray for a yearning to grow and mature in our faith and walk with You. May we not settle for just being saved and stagnant in our faith. But may we yearn to know You more each day and have you known by others. Guide us in our path as we try to be more like Jesus each day. Give us the strength and discipline to carry on, even when we’re knocked down. Thank You for Your grace and mercy and patience as You see us through. Thank You for hearing our prayers, and I thank You in advance for answering our prayers. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 🙏🏽

-Moses Gaddi