Hebrews 5:11-14
Verse 11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.
Now that we have discussed the various things the author of Hebrews considered basics we will start to look at the characteristics of a maturing or mature Christian. There were quite a few things which weren’t on the basics list which we would probably put on a list if we were to write one. Things like prayer, Bible reading and knowledge, loving others, forgiveness and others which we use to measure our maturity in the faith.
The passage before us today is the one preceding the verses we talked about last week. This Hebrew writer understood the history of God’s people. He saw the pattern of what happened when God’s people were not living in the righteousness God had called them to. He knew of the cycle of sin, captivity, crying out to God, repentance, not teaching their children, and back into sin for the nation of Israel. He knew this was their pattern and he wanted to make sure the Jewish people who understood Jesus to be the Messiah weren’t going to continue in that pattern.
His frustration came because these Jewish believers were complacent, they lacked the desire to go deeper. They were satisfied with having their sins forgiven and didn’t care to continue building a relationship with the Lord. It was as if they were happy to get what they wanted out of the relationship but were not willing to put anything of their own into it.
We do the same, don’t we? Why is it that we tend to put as little into our relationship with God as possible? We may not be so apt to take the relationship lightly if we truly cared about it. That’s the basis of our problem, isn’t it? We don’t care as much about it as we do the other things in our lives. This Hebrew writer saw his fellow Jewish believers being OK with mediocrity and he couldn’t stand by and watch them slack in their faith.
Of course we can’t just go around pointing out the failings of people’s walk with God without being aware of our own walk and so we know this writer must have been a passionate follower of the Lord. Reading through the book reveals the level of study he had done to understand Christ’s role for believers. We should be as committed.
Making It Personal
How committed are you to your faith walk? Do your priorities reflect your answer? Where in your life do you need to step up your level of faith commitment?
Making It Personal Kids
What do you do to grow to be more like Jesus? Do you do it regularly? How else can you show your commitment to Jesus?
Closing Prayer
Father, we confess we fail many times to love You as we should. Give us an ever growing desire for deep relationship with You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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