Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

ON TO MATURITY!

This entry was posted on 10-24-2007 and is filed under Devotional.

"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity..." (Hebrews 6:1 NIV).

I learned much in elementary school but I did not stay there forever. I went on to junior high, high school, and college. The same is true in the spiritual "School of Christ." God wants us to leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity. And what are those "elementary teachings?" Doctrines like repentance, faith, baptism, et al. Some people have never progressed from God's simple plan of salvation to maturity.

The writer likens "elementary teachings" to "milk" (5:12,13) and contrasts them to "solid food" which, he says, is for the "mature" (5:14a). Here is the key: "who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" (5:14b). It is a mark of maturity to be able to train ourselves (through the meat of God's Word) to be discerners of what good or evil. Millions of people go to church each Sunday, and that is good. What is not good, however, is that many of these folks still "need someone to teach them the elementary truths of God's word all over again" (5:12). Infants need milk but the mature demand solid food. What's more, they can feed themselves. They long for higher ground, a higher plane - "heaven's tableland."

Hymn/Prayer: "I want to live above the world, Tho' Satan's darts at me are hurled; For faith has caught the joyful sound, The song of saints on higher ground. Lord, lift me up and let me stand, by faith on heaven's tableland, a higher plane than I have found; Lord, plant my feet on higher ground" (Johnson Oatman, Jr.)