From Milk to Solid Food: The Call to Grow Up
Hebrews 5:12-14 offers a frank diagnosis: By this time you ought to be teachers, but you need milk, not solid food. Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice. The word trained (Greek: gymnazein) implies deliberate, repeated exercise. Spiritual maturity is not automatic. 1 Corinthians 3:1-2: I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Ephesians 4:13-15 sets the corporate goal: Until we all attain to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ -- so that we may no longer be children, tossed by the waves. Growth is not optional; remaining an infant when adult food is available is not innocence but negligence.
Seven Verses on the Process of Transformation
2 Corinthians 3:18: We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Transformation is Spirit-work in response to beholding Christ. Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Philippians 1:6: He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. Galatians 4:19: Until Christ is formed in you. Colossians 1:28-29: That we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. James 1:4: That you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. John 15:2: Every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Seven Verses on the Disciplines That Cultivate Growth
1 Timothy 4:7-8: Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way. The disciplines are channels through which we position ourselves before the Spirit. Psalm 1:2-3: He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. Joshua 1:8: Meditate on it day and night. 2 Peter 1:5-8: Add to your faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. For if these qualities are yours and increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful. Proverbs 27:17: Iron sharpens iron. Hebrews 10:24-25: Stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together. Psalm 119:11: I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Six Verses on the Mark of Spiritual Maturity
Spiritual maturity is measured ultimately by love, not knowledge. 1 Corinthians 13:11: When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. The context is love -- the most mature quality. Philippians 3:12-14: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on. Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. Romans 8:29: To be conformed to the image of his Son. 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete. 1 John 2:14: I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you. 1 Thessalonians 4:1: As you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, do so more and more.