"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."
The author of Hebrews admonishes his readers for being lackadaisical in their faith journey. Rather than growing in their spiritual maturity, his listeners were remaining spiritual babies. While they should have become teachers in the word, they still needed someone to explain to them the basic tenets of the faith.
This is a pretty unfortunate condition to be in. And I wonder if this problem persists in the church today. How many of us are really growing in our relationship with God? More specifically, ask yourself how you are doing in this measure?
For today's devotion, try this quick calculation. Determine how long you have been a Christian. As best you can, calculate the years, months, and days it has been since you crossed over the line of faith. (For me, it has been about forty years. I came to faith as a young child, so I can't recall the exact date I dedicated my life to Christ.) Now ask yourself whether that time span represents your current level of spiritual maturity. (In my example, I would ask myself if my life reflects 40 years of being a Christian. Am I exhibiting a spiritual maturity that equates to 40 years of faith?) That's a pretty sobering question to ask oneself.
If you want to make this exercise easier, try this experiment. The next time you drink (or see) some milk consider the following question. Is my spiritual maturity level that of a baby, a child, a young adult, or a mature adult? Then ask yourself what you can you do to grow in your faith.
(New Living Translation; photo credit: Wix media)