A Wake Up Call

Hebrews 5:11-14   Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

¹² For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

¹³ For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

¹⁴ But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Pretty strong words and absolutely no apologies.  We sometimes forget that words like this can actually make a difference and wake people up.  I am not suggesting we go out and verbally assault people, but there are times we need to confront a person who just doesn’t seem to grow, they aren’t interested in learning more about God.  They don’t want to be challenged, they just want to be told how much God loves them and then go on about their way.  They are comfortable and don’t want to change their lives, following Jesus is not to involve growth or work on their part, just ignorant bliss.

While there are questions of who actually wrote the book, Paul is the most popular choice, whoever wrote it did not pull any punches – and we need to remember these verses are inspired by God which can be even more embarrassing when you think of it.  It is a message that resounds through the centuries right up to now.  In today’s America, for many Christians, such harsh language coming from a pulpit, Christian teacher or even a friend would draw no end of criticism and or ire.  And many are afraid to challenge their charges because they are afraid they might offend them or that going deep into the Word just goes over the heads of the people – or they might lose their job.

We are becoming like the society around us, don’t challenge people, let everyone be happy in their mediocrity and whatever you do don’t expect them to grow.  For them to strive for something and fail would be a disaster for them.  Give them a feel good religion so they can feel good about themselves, whether they accomplish anything for Christ or not.  Pats on the back are more important than kicks in the hindquarters.

Having these words directed at us can sometimes be hard to take, because we don’t like to be criticized, but if our heart is truly open to God we can understand the frustrations of God.  These verses are not directed at new Christians, they are directed at those who accepted Christ quite some time ago and then stagnated, going no farther in the Lord.  However, it can hold true for us who have grown in Christ, but have reached a plateau and not grown more.  It is a daily process and one that doesn’t stop until we are called home.

As we grow older we learn how to use our abilities differently than we did when younger.  It reminds me of the time I came to the office sore and tired.  I was meeting with clients, somehow we got to talking about me being tired and sore.  I told them that I had been working all day in Carla’s garden on the day before.  The lady looked at me and said, “You have to stop killing snakes.”

Now, there were no snakes in Carla’s garden and I sure hadn’t tried to kill any that day.  She then said, you are trying to work like you did when you were 20 (several decades earlier) and you can’t work like that anymore.  You have to slow down to a slower pace and stop trying to kill snakes. 

This same holds true in our life with Christ.  Sometimes we can keep a pace up for a long time, and that is fine, but if we do have to stop killing snakes He will show us other ways we can serve Him.  But we should always keep growing, He will show us new things to learn in His Word, He will lift us up and use us in ways we didn’t think we could do before.  The important thing is never to place ourselves in the position where someone has to come up to us and lay that kind of language on us to get us working for Him.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous