Journey Through The Bible
     Old Testament Reading: 1 Kings 16-19
     New Testament Reading: Hebrews 5

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature – for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).

This little section is of special interest because it shows that the recipients of the letter were people of whom better things were expected. They should have been mature Christians. Since they had evidently been converted for quite some time, they ought to have made more progress in the faith than they had. Their immaturity troubles the author.

He reminds the Hebrews that they had been receiving instruction long enough that they should be teaching others. But the tragedy was that they still needed someone to teach them the ABCs of the Word of God.

God desires every Believer should mature to where he can teach others. Each one, teach one! While it is true certain Believers have a special gift of teaching, it is also true that every believer should engage in some ministry teaching others about God. It was never God’s intention that this work should be limited to a few.

You need milk and not solid food. We would all be concerned about a physical child who never advances from milk to solid foods. We should be just as concerned about stunted growth in the spiritual realm as well. Professing believers who stay on a milk diet are inexperienced with the message about righteousness. They are hearers of the word but not doers. They lose what they do not use and remain in a state of perpetual infancy. They do not have a keen sense of discernment in spiritual matters and are tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit (Eph. 4:14).

Spiritual maturity comes not merely by hearing God’s Word, but by making it a habit to put it into practice. As we obey God and He transforms our character into the likeness of His own, our spiritual discernment grows stronger. We think more like He does. We hear Him more clearly, we increasingly obey the promptings of His Spirit, and we are progressively more able to make decisions that honor Him.