Hebrews 5:11-14
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
As someone has rightly said, anything that does not grow ultimately withers and dies. The same can be said of our Christian walk in that if we are not seeking and seeing growth, then we will eventually wither away and die. This was the pain of the author of the book of Hebrews in today’s passage. He is concerned that these Christians seemed to have remained at the same starting level, never having attained growth. That they ought to have become the ones who were teachers of the Word but instead, they needed to be taught on the very basics and fundamentals of the Christian faith.
What a sad reality it is when one refuses to grow. Even in the natural order we expect that one should attain certain milestones as a marker of growth. For example, any parent would be greatly troubled if their 7-year-old child has not started feeding on solids yet. The same is true of our heavenly Father – He is troubled when we are unable to attain the necessary milestones that are a marker of maturity and growth. And just as we need food and other things for our natural self to grow, we also need spiritual food and other things for our spiritual self to grow. We need the Word (food), prayer, fellowship, and witnessing for us to make strides in our relationship with Christ.
Reflections
1. What has been your favourite topic this week?
2. In line with today’s devotion, what will you intentionally do to ensure you are constantly growing in your relationship with Christ?
