Even though our church is small, I appreciate the number of men that are gifted to teach the Word of God, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Yesterday, Mike filled in for Pastor Dave and used the following text to challenge us for the new year: "of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 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. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 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." (Hebrews 5:11 - 6:3)
It is God's desire for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of God, and our attitude should be one of resolve to continue to grow in Christ. We should not be haphazard in our attempts, but be disciplined to set goals, do a spiritual self-examination, and then make the necessary adjustments to our spiritual life. It should be the natural desire of our hearts as the redeemed of God to know Him more intimately and love Him more passionately. The warning in this passage is not to let ourselves become dull of hearing - slow or sluggish to assimilate biblical principles to our Christian life. If we neglect the Christian disciplines, we are dismantling our armor of spiritual protection and are setting ourselves up as easy targets for Satan's attacks, as our hearts become hardened. Mike encouraged us to press on toward maturity this year, not by making the wrong resolution of being busy for the sake of busyness, but by making a good resolution to live a quieter, singular life devoted to God through prayer, meditation of the Word, worship, and fellowship with other believers. At the end of 2007, I hope to see how the Lord has worked in my life to accomplish that resolution of greater love and devotion.
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