Time to Grow Up?

I’m now reading the book of Hebrews. As a young man I somehow picked up that Hebrews was a very difficult book to read and understand and I sort of stayed away from it. Sometime later I decided to teach this book and so I began to study it and I am so glad that I did. I have come to appreciate the words of Hebrews as much as any other book of the Bible. The book of Hebrews is about the excellence and superiority of Jesus Christ. When I read it I am reminded of the power and majesty and purpose of the one that I serve…and I am also reminded of my responsibility as a follower of Jesus to know His word.

I think every parent who has had a teenager has said this at some time or another, “It’s time to grow up” or some variation of that. Hopefully you are not still saying this to your 29 year old who lives in your basement. After a number of years, there is an expectation of maturity, responsibility and decision making. The same holds true for the “child” of God. Look at what is written for us in Hebrews 5:12-14:

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

When we first trust in Jesus we are “babies” in Christ, regardless of our physical age. But after time, just as a child develops and matures, we too must develop and mature spiritually. We must get off of milk and move to solid food. A key phrase for me in verse 15 is the phrase “reason of use”. The follower of Jesus grows spiritually as we “use” what we know. We grow as we read God’s word and interact with God’s people and use what God has taught us and is teaching us. We can’t grow in Christ without His word and His people. So, I ask, is it time to grow up in Christ?