When we are born-again, we are as infants or newborns who must live on milk. Meat and solid food is for the mature as they have grown up in the things of the Lord.
13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. – Heb 5:13-14
As babes, we cannot understand teaching about righteousness because we do not comprehend (even after we are born-again) why we cannot do the works of God on our own. We are so used to pleasing God by self-will or mental power until then that it becomes difficult to get rid of this habit and simply trust in God’s leading for attaining His nature.
Sheep hear His voice. If He does not speak, the sheep must refrain from doing as they please. But babes do not listen or wait to hear His voice. They run ahead of the flock and try to impress the shepherd but end up feeling left out, dry and run down. If we follow the Lord, He will lead us to the places we must go. This alone will satisfy us rather than pursuing a righteousness of our own.
As we try to fulfill God’s commands and fail, we gradually learn to depend on God’s power to redeem us from our own foolishness (moral deficiencies). This means that as babes in Christ, we cannot yet understand or appreciate the mighty things of God such as miracles, healing, speaking in tongues and so on—matters that need spiritual discernment.
Therefore, infants are fed basic doctrine such as repentance from works of the flesh (or dead works), faith in God, baptism to cleanse us of our (sense of) unrighteousness, becoming united with the Body of Christ through laying of hands, assurance of resurrection after death and freedom from eternal judgment (or the lake of fire). These, according to Paul, were basic foundational doctrines that we learn as our first lessons as babes in Christ.
6 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so. – Hebrews 6:1-3
Paul exhorts the believers to not become lazy but to show the same diligence (with which they began) to the very end, in order to make their hope SURE. This could only happen if they imitate those who through faith and patience will inherit what has been promised. God permitting they will attain their promise.
God’s promises are sure for He swore to Abraham by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” This could have seemed an impossible task because the Spirit of God had not been given and men were futile in their thinking and limited in their ability to serve God purposefully. They were so bent on evil that the bible says, “Their thoughts were continually evil.” Yet God preserved many generations until our Lord Jesus Christ could finally come to the earth.
God assures us in James that through perseverance, we can become perfect and mature – not lacking anything.
“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” – James 1:4
Now that we understand what it means to be mature, let us also consider some ways by which we can become mature:
- Seeds that fell among thorns did not mature, indicating that we must keep our lives free of worries, love of pleasures and the deceitfulness of wealth. These choke out the life in you causing you to become deficient and weak, thus inhibiting your growth.
- We must press into the deeper things of God so as to attain them as Paul took on the task of attaining that for which Jesus had made him His own (his destiny in Christ).
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” – Philippians 3:12
- Paul admits that he was yet to take hold of his destiny but he was pressing in—by forgetting his past misdoings and straining forward toward the prize for which Jesus had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14: 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
- We must train our minds to become mature by putting childlike ways behind us. 1 Cor 13:11- When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” – 1 Corinthians 14:20
We must detach ourselves from worldly ways that lead us away from the pure wisdom of the Word so that we can continue to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2
- Make it your objective to grow in the knowledge and understanding of God’s grace working in your life. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. – 2 Peter 3:18
“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” – Proverbs 9:9
Always follow the law of the Spirit because the law of sin and death does not apply to us who are born-again because we (in the Spirit) are now dead to sin and alive to Christ.
“For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” — Romans 8:2