Mature Faith

Hebrews 5:12 to 6:1 says: for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

Picture this: as a baby, you probably first crawled and then you learned how to walk. You drank milk for most of your food until you grew teeth and learned how to chew. Would it not be odd if when you started Kindergarten, you crawled into the class room and at snack time you cried out for a bottle of milk? Or if as an adult you crawled into you office and pulled a bottle of milk out of your brief case for lunch? Of course this is ridiculous. As we grow into physical maturity, we no longer rely on the things that were foundational to our development but are not required for a productive lifestyle. It’s not that we no longer know how to crawl or to drink from a bottle, it’s that we are able to do so much more. 

This passage in Hebrews is saying this same thing but about spiritual maturity. If we continue to vainly repeat the process of salvation as if it didn’t stick the first time and not walk into a mature and confident faith, we will never move forward in the freedom of salvation, the very grace of God. If we continually lay the same foundation over and over, we will never build on it. We must move on to maturity. If a builder continues pouring the same foundation, the house will never get built and no one will ever live in it. If we keep crawling and drinking milk, we will be weak. If we walk and eat solid food, we are stronger and will go farther with more strength.

The difference between faith toward God and faith in God is simple. A faith toward God waits for Him to prove He is there before it takes a step. Faith in God steps out with confidence that He already is. For faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. It is sure that God will be there every step of the way even if you don't see Him.

Faith in God is confident. It is confident in what one already knows about God through His Son Jesus. A mature believer in Christ walks confident and sure that all that comes their way has been approved by God, the good and the bad. And that God will provide the strength to get through whatever it is. And that He is using all things to refine us, grow us and make us into the people He planned for us to be...mature, faithful, confident and deeply loved individuals that live not for themselves but for His glory.