The author of Hebrews takes a pause from his doctrinal teaching on the priesthood of Melchizedek to say this to his audience:
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
12 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 5:11-12
There is an expectation from the author that these Christians should have matured more than they had at this point. There might even be some frustration on his part. They had become dull of hearing.
They should have been teaching others, at this point. But they needed a refresher on the fundamentals. They were still like babies in their Christian life.
In the natural sense, we have expectations of people and maturity, and that’s right and good. We don’t want an adult man to push over a girl that he likes and say “nanny nanny na na”. We expect grown people to contribute to their families and to society. We expect people to mature. And if they don’t, we rightly think that something’s wrong.
Similarly, in the Christian life, those redeemed in Christ are expected to mature. Those who have known the Lord for some time should be equipped to and desiring to build up others in the faith. They should know Jesus more than they did several years ago and love Him more deeply.
Now, we want to be careful not to become legalistic about this, so as to say that if you have been a believer for three years, you should be a certain level of mature. For who can measure that? But at least we should understand that we are expected in the Lord to grow in Him, by His grace, and for His glory. We should not be satisfied with drinking spiritual milk, not when there’s rich spiritual steak on the table.
And moreover, we should want others to know this Savior more deeply, too, and we should do all we can to help them to that end. And in order to do that, we must also grow in maturity.
So, how do you grow in maturity? Seek to know the Lord in His word exponentially. Seek to enjoy the blessings of obedience to His perfect law. Seek the help of brothers and sisters in Christ. And pray like your life depends on Him, because it does.
Daily Bleat 