“Therefore let us go on and get past the
elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah),
advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to
spiritual maturity. Let us not again be
laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead
formalism) and of the faith [by which you turned] to God.” Hebrews 6:1 AMP
Jesus has certain expectations of all His
disciples. He expects us to make
progress in our understanding of spiritual things.
He asked Nicodemus, “Are you the teacher of
Israel, and [yet you] do not understand these things?” (John 3:10)
The Pharisee did not understand the simple,
elemental things of the gospel, the “earthly things” (vs. 12) that should have
been clear to him from the OT.
Jesus asked the disciples who missed the
meaning of His lessons, “Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the
five thousands?” (Matt. 16:9 NIV) The disciples were still puzzling over “earthly
things” when they should have gone on to “heavenly things,” that is, deeper
truths of the Lord.
Nicodemus dealt with the truth almost
daily; yet he could not see it. That is
inexcusable!
What is more inexcusable is for me to learn
the simple, basic steps of faith but never get beyond them to the “heavenly
things.”
I have wondered at the paucity of the
church and its tiny impact on the world in general, even though there are far
more of us today than ever. Can it be
that we are still infants, learning our ABC’s, never getting beyond elementary school?
Do we hear Jesus saying, “Do you still not
understand?”
Are we still battling the enemy with
infantile weapons?
The urging of God is overwhelming He wants
us to “…. advance steadily toward the completeness and perfection that
belong to spiritual maturity.” (Heb. 6:1).
That is the will of God for us……….spiritual
maturity!
“Your ears will hear a word behind you,
saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the
left.” Isa. 30:21 AMP
No comments:
Post a Comment