Thursday 17 April, 2014

6 So let us leave the simple teachings about Christ. Let us grow up as believers. Let us not start all over again with the basic teachings. They taught us that we need to turn away from doing things that lead to death. They taught us that we must have faith in God. 2 They taught us about different kinds of baptism. They taught us about placing hands on people. They taught us that people will rise from the dead. They taught us that God will judge everyone. And they taught us that what he decides will last forever. 3 If God permits, we will go beyond those teachings and grow up. 4 What if some people fall away from the faith? It won’t be possible to bring them back. It is true that they have seen the light. They have tasted the heavenly gift. They have shared in the Holy Spirit. 5 They have tasted the good things of God’s word. They have tasted the powers of the age to come. 6 But they have fallen away from the faith. So it won’t be possible to bring them back. They won’t be able to turn away from their sins. They are losing everything. That’s because they are nailing the Son of God to the cross all over again. They are bringing shame on him in front of everyone. 7 Some land drinks the rain that falls on it. It produces a crop that is useful to those who farm the land. That land receives God’s blessing. 8 But other land produces only thorns and weeds. That land isn’t worth anything. It is in danger of coming under God’s curse. In the end, it will be burned.

It’s amazing how easy it is to think “I know enough” about anything in life including God. It takes humility to realise that is never the case and effort to take steps to learn more. I know I have not been putting enough effort into learning more, to becoming more mature in my understanding of God and all He wants. This is also true in my field of work. I have been so busy over the last few years that learning more and building my expertise and knowledge has slipped back. Just as it is true in our field of work it is true in our walk with God – what can seem like being content where we are is actually slipping backwards. We miss out on growth and experience because we are not putting ourselves in a place to learn. Paul reminds us here that there is always more to learn and that we need to take steps to do that.

Lord thank You that we can always gain a greater understanding of who You are and how You want to have relationship with us. Thank You that You have given us capacity and opportunity to learn more and more. Help us to recognise those opportunities and to take them. Help us to be ready to learn more each and every day. Help us to want to learn more even in the midst of busyness. Help us to understand ourselves and how best we learn new things so that we can optimise those opportunities for growth.

Written by Therese Manning