READING: Leviticus 12-14, Psalm 111, Hebrews 5
One of the biggest problems with the North American church is that we have not adequately discipled at least two generations now. Far too many churches have baptized new believers, received them into membership, and even set them up as leaders – without ever discipling them after their conversion. One result is that we now have folks in leadership positions who are really still babies in Christ. They’re still drinking the milk of God’s Word rather than eating solid food (see Heb 5:12, 14), primarily because we’ve never really taught them in the first place.
The writer of Hebrews describes a slightly different problem in today’s reading. Apparently, some of the believers had previously been taught the Scriptures; however, they had now “become too lazy to understand” (Heb 5:11) and needed “someone to teach [them] the basic principles of God’s revelation again” (Heb 5:12). They should have been teachers by now, but instead they were drinking only the milk of the Word. They needed to go back to the basics.
My guess is that all of us sometimes need to go back to the basics. Sometimes we, too, become lazy in our faith and slide in the wrong direction. At other times, we so take the gospel for granted that we lose our wonder over the basics of its truth. Then, we also fail to review those truths and inadvertently forget them. The result is that we need a refresher course in the gospel if we want to follow God with enthusiasm, obedience, and growth.
Do you need a refresher course today? Do I? Sometimes the immaturity of our actions and the fickleness of our hearts show that we do.
PRAYER: “God, show me any place where I should have grown – and where my immaturity is obvious.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Leviticus 15-18, Psalm 31, Hebrews 6
