This week I celebrated my 56th birthday. Well, using the word “celebrated” is a bit extreme. I spent my whole birthday driving a box truck throughout eastern Kentucky for work. Nonetheless, I did turn 56 years old.
Because I have some years on me, some might think that getting wiser and more mature is a given. Such is not the case at all. If I (or anyone else for that matter) possesses wisdom and maturity, it is only because it is earned through disciplined living and learning.
And so it is with spiritual wisdom and maturity. Just because someone has been a Christian for ten, twenty, thirty, or more years that doesn’t mean that individual is necessarily wise and mature in the faith. As a matter of fact, the writer of the book of Hebrews made this very point in (5:12-14) of his epistle when he said, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first 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 unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Because spiritual growth is not a given, we should strive to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord so that we can become not only wise and mature, but also productive in our faith! Peter gave us this very command in II Peter (3:18) when he said, “…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever.”
Where are you in terms of your spiritual wisdom and maturity? Have you grown in your faith?