"Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Hebrews 6:1, 9-12God wants us to be spiritually mature in Him. It is simple to accept His gift of salvation, but to hone the fruits of the spirits, bearing fruit, is maturity in Christ. Easier said, allowing Him to rule and you and I dying to our flesh. The definition of maturity is:
- the state of being mature; ripeness.
- full development; perfected condition.
This passage compliments Galatians 5:14-17 because when asked, Christ told us in Luke 10:27 "And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."
To make Hebrew 6-11-12 happen we must understand the foundation of this maturity. Galatians encourages you and I to love one another with a love the come from Christ, not man. It's love that loves in all circumstances. Offense or no offense, the love carries on.
15 warns us if we don't get this we will harm each other instead of love. Referring to community, biting hurts. We bite people sometime on purpose or not on purpose and we can respond a few ways to the bite: bite back, ignore it or forgive it. The passages communicates to not bite, but if there is a bite how do you and I respond?
I cannot love everyone, but He can. Verse 17 tells us how to love in such a way by walking in the Spirit.
"And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
God desires the we become serious about our faith in Him. Through faith and patience, we cannot do that if we do not live in the Spirit and love like Christ, not Jeremy. I don't love everyone, but He does!
God wants you and I to take serious is loving unconditionally, everyone, not biting one another and living in the Spirit. These are the ways to spiritual maturity.
Learning these things from Jesus' words, Galatians 5:14-17 draws us to Hebrew 6:11, where we are encouraged to carry on, inherit His promises through maturity in Christ.
God bless.
1 comment:
Before I became Christian, I heard Christians talk a lot about forgiveness and love, but I almost never say it.
Since I became a Christian, I think I have started to understand why. We teach people to forgive others, we teach people to love everything.
Sometimes, we even do a good job of teaching those things.
The one thing I've almost never seen taught anywhere is a Christ-centered and Biblically sound way of handling your own hurt feelings.
How do we deal with being hurt? How do we work through our hurt and our emotions and our desire to feel better and lash out to keep from being hurt again?
I haven't figured it out yet. I hope to, though.
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