Committed to spiritual maturity

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. Hebrews 6:1-3 NLT

The fact that believers are expected to grow and attain spiritual maturity cannot be overemphasized by the writer of Hebrews. The reason why is because the level of spiritual growth is what will determine how Christians will fair up facing trials and difficulties in life. From the text, the writer of the book provides the basic steps how we are ushered in the family of God. It begins by “repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.” We used to rely in doing good works as the means of salvation but because of God’s convicting power through the Holy Spirit, we open up our lives to Christ and repented of our sin. By faith, we committed ourselves to surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ. Then, we show our commitment to the Lordship of Christ over our lives by publicly identifying ourselves with Him through baptism. We then are conferred with spiritual gifts so we can serve Him. Then, we are instructed about “the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” These are the events we are looking forward to. Because of our faith in Christ, we will be raised from the dead and we will be facing the judgement seat of Christ in order for us to receive what is due us for the things we have done appropriating the resources He entrusted to us after we received Him by faith. “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body” (2 Corinthians 5:10). All these are the foundational beginnings in the life of believers. But we have to grow beyond the basic teachings. If not, we will get calcified or worse, slip back. The life that God began in us should grow to maturity. If we cannot find growth from where we are now compared to a year ago, growth in godliness and commitment to serving Him, we better examine what is going on within us. Even more, if we find ourselves slipping back and losing grasp on things that are dear to us, that we find ourselves growing in apathy in striving for spiritual maturity and godliness, we better stop what we are doing and address these matters. We have to attend to the need of our souls and get back to having a commitment towards spiritual maturity.

Blessings,