Human growth shows the journey of a baby to a senior. In between this time, growth and development happens with each stage. In each stage there are some obstacles like from crawling to walking, from walking to running. In this case, one cannot run if they don’t know how to walk.
When you give God your life, you are in the crawling stage. You are being introduced to Christ and learning about how He died on the cross, was buried, and rose (for you, for me). You are learning about His commandments and His love, His faithfulness to you. While learning these things, you are being further enlightened through His wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, which is a continual process because rebuking self is the hardest, most constant and consistent battle we face on top of the enemy’s desire to kill, steal, and destroy.
But in the Scriptures, the point that Peter and David were trying to make is that when you find out how good God is and has been to you, through personal experience, and you are in constant communication with him, at the baby stage, then you shouldn’t be repeating, continuously, the baby stage all of your life. Growing in God means to become or be in the process of transformation and transcendence into a higher Godly way of thinking. In other words, when you are no longer a child and you become an adult, you shouldn’t still be acting like a child in adult situations.
God is requiring that we grow up in Him, to mature in Him. This means that at some point, there is no excuse that we can make up for the justification of our sinfulness. There is no escape from living a Holy life, as acceptable to Him and not what man accepts. We are challenged, just as if we are a teen who no longer takes a baby bottle and an adult who no longer takes a sippy cup.
We are challenged to grow in the knowledge and admonition of God. We are tasked to learn His way and quit circling the same sin because when we grow in Him and our prayer is to rid ourselves of it, wholeheartedly, we must not continue to chase our tail; that is, if we believe that God can and will deliver us.
Some of us don’t know what deliverance is, but yet we profess to be God-believers. God is challenging us to grow up; to stop making excuses and rise up in this evil and cruel world as People of God who are working to be Holy and acceptable to Him, for He is the reason we are living.
So then, The Apostle Paul, in Hebrews 6 is calling us to Spiritual Maturity in God. He is telling us that once we have felt God’s goodness and have received His abundant grace and mercy, we must take up our cross, bearing it with Jesus Christ, and then be risen with Him, in the same manner. To be risen with Him is to live how He has instructed, but to stay in disobedience and refute Him, we are re-crucifying Him again and this won’t happen because His Word is true, what He destined it to do, it will not return to Him incomplete. We have to strive to get closer to Him, which means we must strive to obey and take heed to what He has instructed us to do.
Why does David say, in Psalm 34:8 (b) The Message Bible Version, “Blessed are you who run to Him?” It is because you can get to God faster if you run than if you walk! In other words, sometimes we are in positions where we didn’t expect. We have been disobedient and need some help to get out of the mess we have made; so, in this instance, we have to run into His safety and allow Him to apply grace and mercy and rebuke the enemy, on our behalf. Have you ever been in this position? I have. You can lie to man, but God knows your every thought. You can’t escape His discipline just like you can’t escape His blessings!
This Week’s Challenge: This week, start to think of your sins against God. Talk to Him about them. Ask Him to show you how He wants you to be. Be convicted and ask for His Divine forgiveness. Ask Him for mercy. Talk to Him about how hard it is to give it up and ask for help in that area. Acknowledge your sin. Pray for sincere forgiveness. Ask that He break the chains of bondage in your life. Repent and Let God forgive. Walk towards Him. Don’t take your eyes off Him and you can surely walk into God’s Divine Deliverance. Make up your mind as to what you will to do and ask His Will to be in your life. Let God know that you desire to inquire in His temple and you desire to follow His commandments. In reality, this is only between you and God. This is not a social gathering for it is an intimate relationship with God.
Today’s Scriptures:
Hebrews 6: 1-8 MSG | The Message
1-3 So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!
4-8 Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can’t start over as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Why, they’ve re-crucified Jesus! They’ve repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God’s “Well done!” But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.
1 Peter 2:2-3 NLV | New Life Version
As new babies want milk, you should want to drink the pure milk which is God’s Word so you will grow up and be saved from the punishment of sin. 3 If you have tasted of the Lord, you know how good He is.
1 Peter 2:2-3 MSG | The Message
So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.
Psalm 34:8 MSG | The Message
Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.
Psalm 34:8 NLV | New Life Version
O taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who trusts in Him!
Walking Towards Christ 