Growing Up

“Let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.”
Hebrews 6:1


Displayed down hallway walls in many homes are pictures of the kids. Frame after frame captures precious moments sequenced from cradle to college, and the exhibit often ends with a wedding. A glance at the wall brings a rush of nostalgia and a reassurance of normalcy, for babies are born to grow. A toddler becomes a tween, then a teen, and somehow, amazingly, an adolescent morphs into an adult. Along the way, milk becomes meat, and smushed peas give way to sandwiches—then steak.

Our spiritual snapshots should look the same. We began as babies—born of God’s Spirit and adopted as His own. As His children, we’ve been created for change, but sometimes our spiritual diet and spiritual disciplines resemble a Christian much less mature than we ought to be. “Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!”(Heb. 5:12)

These are hard verses, but let them be the “annual physical” that helps assess your spiritual health. If you’re God’s, you should be growing. You should know Jesus more and know more about Jesus today than you did yesterday, last month, last year. Though we never stop being fed by others (pastors, teachers, friends), it’s time to pick up the fork more ourselves. We grow by listening closely to what God says, and we should be reading more, studying more, and reflecting more on the Bible than ever before. Our prayers should have more passion and more purpose than in the past. Our praise should flow more freely and more often. Our personal devotions should be becoming a time of being with God and not just a time of getting something from God. And the living out of all we’ve taken in should show up in our actions and attitudes.

Growth isn’t a source of pride; it’s a sign of life, so let’s stop guzzling milk and start chewing on meat. “Let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity”(Heb. 6:1). You’ve known the basics about repentance, faith, baptism, the resurrection, and the eternal judgment for a while (Heb. 6:2). These essential nutrients got you going, but you should keep growing. There’s so much more to our good God than we’ve tasted yet. “Taste and see that the Lord is good”(Ps. 34:8).

Growing kids stay hungry.
Pile up your plate and come back for more.

"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”(1 Peter 3:18).