Lose the Puppy Fat!

11-14I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you've picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby's milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God's ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.
Hebrews 5:11-14

I made it through 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus, now onto Hebrews. As I was reading through Hebrews the last two days, I noted a recurring theme. The writer telling people to LISTEN! Because this was a letter, I am almost positive that he was referring spiritually paying attention, listening to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Yet We find the pockets of Hebrews throughout the Roman empire are STILL not listening. The writer chastises them here in this portion of scripture. As God has been doing in me the last few weeks, He jumped in and made this alive in me. That part where the writer says, "By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find..."

What struck me here is that phrase, "By this time, you ought to be teachers yourselves." The Writer was inferring a natural progression that MANY MANY MANY believers miss. The progression is pretty simple. For the sake of the non-believer who will chance upon my blog, I will put it like this:
God stirs something in a person, the person then hears from one of Christ's followers about salvation. They choose to accept the message and follow Christ, get baptized in water and the Holy Spirit, then they get plugged into a church and begin to grow. At any point along the journey their excitement may bring them to begin sharing. As they share, and grow, they must remember that God is always wanting to use us to reach out to others. Never at any point does ANY Christian, regardless of calling, "Arrive," or "Make it" in Faith and know everything. Instead, they are to always grow.

The problem is many believers, especially those of us who have been in church a long time, get complacent and instead of GROWING UP, continue to live where we are at spiritually, physically, emotionally. I get it, its comfortable to not change. But is it scriptural? No. in the book of Revelation, Jesus, speaking prophetically to the church of Laodicea, shares that they have become distasteful in their lack of growth. This brings me to a very important point:

In Christianity, you are either living for God, or you are dying in spite of Him. You cannot serve yourself, and God at the same time. (Luke 11:10-20). We must either choose to live for Him, serve Him wholly, or walk in sin. John Piper put it well, "Most Christians want a savior, they don't want a Lord."

All this to ask, what habits, behaviors, relationships, thoughts, or actions do we do that retard our spiritual growth? We should be setting an example (1 Timothy), yet many of us choose to just live day to day in our own little world doing our own little thing.. Not growing, not getting rid of things that hinder and sinful attitudes and actions. This is painfully apparent in the church today. We have a hard time listening to and obeying the voice of God because our puppy fat gets in the way.

ITS TIME TO GROW UP!

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