How Much Truth Can You Handle?

Hebrews 5

11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

 

Different believers can handle different quantities and depth of spiritual food. Part of this is because of spiritual age. For instance, we do not expect a brand new believer to know what a 30-year Christian knows. But also, it is related to OBEDIENCE.

“But solid food is for the mature who because of PRACTICE have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” (verse 14, emphasis mine)

How does this occur? It is simple.

A believer hears or reads something in Scripture by the Word and Spirit. God is speaking to him. He then decides if he is going to follow what the Spirit has said. 

“Will I love my wife today like Christ loved the church? Will I believe God regarding my finances and depend on Him? Will I not worry but in “everything by prayer and supplication let my requests be made known unto God? The Bible has told me to ‘pray without ceasing,’ so will I do it today?” …and on and on.

Every single day (if we’re listening) yields simple, clear, instructions for life. In fact, every HOUR reveals such leadership.

Now if the believer responds in obedience and practices what he has heard—completely dependent upon the Spirit’s power within him but coupled with the individual’s willing obedience—he will grow and experience what God has promised. As he does, he learns in a real way that the will of God is “good, acceptable, and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). He knows the difference between “good and evil” in a PRACTICAL way, not just a THEORETICAL way. 

And he will never be the same. Just think what a year of such biblical truth and tested practice would yield in terms of the growth of the Christian life?! Conversely, just think of what you will lose when you fail to follow a simple command from your loving Father. You wallow in spiritual immaturity there and God has to go back and back over the same ground trying to teach you something that should have already been engrained. This makes your practical steps of obedience today far more important than you realize.

How much truth can you handle? It will depend upon how long you’ve walked with Christ and how cooperatively you’ve walked with him.

 

 

©2013 Bill Elliff.  Originally posted March 25, 2013 at Bill Elliff’s Blog