“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.” Hebrews 5:12 (ESV)
The other day my six-year-old daughter asked me when she would be able to ride her bike without training wheels. My daughter doesn’t have much experience riding a bike, we have never had a place for her to ride before now. I told her it was important to keep practicing, keep riding well with the training wheels and she shouldn’t have to keep them on very much longer.
That is what training wheels are for. They are for a child to get used to riding a bike and learn how to ride safely and efficiently. My daughter is heading for a time when she won’t have to use the training wheels anymore.
Many Christians today, as the writer of Hebrews says, are stuck on milk, spiritually speaking. Now I am not, nor is the writer of Hebrews, pointing out how little new believers know of the things of God. I do not expect a toddler to be able to know how to clean their room well, nor do I expect someone who is a baby in the faith to be able to explain to me the sovereignty of God.
I am speaking to the believer who continues to be content with only knowing the “basic principles” of the faith and never being ready for the deep things of God.
The writer of Hebrews is telling their readers about how Jesus is our merciful High Priest in the line of Melchizedek. He stops and says, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.”
What a harsh word. I wish I could continue going into this magnificent truth, but you are not ready. I want to reveal more of the mysteries of Christ, but I must stop. You are not ready.
I want to be ready for more, don’t you? I want to, as Hebrews 6:1 (NIV) says, “move beyond elementary teaching about Christ and taken forward into maturity.”
It would be strange if my daughter rode her bike in college, continuing to use training wheels. It would be strange if my son grows up and continues to cut with child safety scissors into his adulthood. Which is why it’s strange to see Christians in churches not moving into a mature walk with Christ.
If you have been walking with Christ for years you should know and be able to teach the things of God to those new in the faith. If you have known the Lord, hearing the Word preached week after week, study your Bible daily then you should be able to explain the Trinity without sounding like a heretic. You shouldn’t be wrestling with the same sin you did as a 40-year-old that you did as a teenager.
You should long to know more of this gracious holy God who saved you out of the pit of your own sin.
The good news is this, there is more of God. Maturity is possible. We can be confident, “that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Application and Things to Think About
1. Where are you in your spiritual maturity? Have you seen growth in the past five years? Past year? Past month?
2. Who in your life is mature in their walk with Christ? Ask them to disciple you and push you into knowing God deeper.
3. Pray that God would give you a deep hunger for His Word and a hunger for you to be molded more daily into the image of His Son, Christ Jesus.
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