GROW UP!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY AUGUST 28, 2020.

SUBJECT: GROW UP!

Memory verse:  "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.” (Hebrews 5 vs 12.) 

READ: Hebrews 5 vs 12 -14:

5:12: 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. 

5:13: For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 

5:14: 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.

INTIMATION:

Growth in Christianity is growing in the wisdom and knowledge of the high-priestly role of Christ in the life of all believers. The growth is difficult unless you moved out of your comfort zones, and get really committed to Christ. Your commitment and thirst, commits God to arouse your intellect, and discerning spirit to know Him personally; your eyes of understanding being enlightened, that is, being focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what He is calling you to do. 

In real life, we try to know someone better by reading biographical information or historical data about him. That will help you know a lot about that person, bu it won’t enable you to actually know him or her. To know someone better, you need to spend time with that person; there is no shortcut. The same holds true with God. Reading the Bible, great works of theology, and devotional material is wonderful, but there is no substitute for knowing God personally by spending quality time with a Him. 

Do you really know God, or do you just know about Him? The difference is in spending quality time with Him, and in that hinges your growth as a Christian. Consequently, you grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life He has for His followers, and the utter extravagance of His work in us who trust Him; His endless energy, and boundless strength.

Christians who are yet to experience growth are Babes in Christ. Instead of growing in the wisdom and knowledge of their inheritance in Christ, such Christians are still needing someone to teach them the very rudiments of the truths of God; the elementary principles of Christ.  The apostle Paul said such believers are still in the infant stage, needing milk for feeding. He says that, “for everyone who partakes only in milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” (Hebrews 5 vs 13.)

Considering how long they have been Christians, some believers ought to be teachers, leaders, helpers of men, praying with the sick. Instead of still needing prayer contractors who would do the praying for them. Stunted growth in a Christian’s life is as a result of the bad habit of not listening appropriately, and practicing the Word of God, and they become believers who are unskilled in the word of righteousness—inexperienced in God’s ways. 

For some, instead of growing, they are pulled back to the world by the devil—backslides. The peril of not growing up in Christ, but rather backsliding is enormous. Once you have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once you have personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us, turning your back on it—washing your hands of the whole thing—is costly. Why? Because when you turn your back on Christ, you become a toy in the hands of the devil. 

To return to Christ you must begin afresh. You can’t start over again as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Your action of turning your back on Christ is repudiating Him in the public. By deliberately turning away from Christ, you become  an unbeliever, cutting yourself off from God’s forgiveness. And, in the event of your returning to Him, the apostle Paul likened it to your re-crucifying Jesus: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6 vs 4 - 6.)

The apostle Paul likened such persons to a parched ground that soaks up rain and then produces an abundance of grains for its gardener, and get God’s approval. But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Such fields are not harvested, but rather, they are cleared of the weeds and thistles and are burned. It is time to grow to adulthood and claim your real place in Christ. Start today and the Holy Spirit will guide you to all truth.

Prayer: Abba Father, grant me your glorious inner strength through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith, and I will experience the extravagant dimensions of Christ love, in Jesus’ Name I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!