Hebrews 5:12 Amplified Bible (AMP)
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers [because of the time you have had to learn these truths], you actually need someone to teach you again the elementary principles of God’s word [from the beginning], and you have come to be continually in need of milk, not solid food.
Though we come into the kingdom of God as spiritual infants, God expects us to grow in the faith and become mature Christians. Just as it is in the natural, when we become mature, we are expected to take responsibility and to teach others so that they can also attain maturity. Spiritual maturity comes through learning and applying the word of God in our life and this is a personal responsibility. With this in mind then, one characteristic of those who remain as spiritual babies is that they do not listen. Though they are taught, they chose not to listen or they easily forget and thus they lean on their former way of thinking.
Just like in the natural, spiritual babies do not take responsibility; they want everything done for them. Like the scripture above says, they always need someone to teach them again the elementary principles of God’s word. You have to keep repeating the same things to them over and over again. They cannot digest the deep things of God and thus they are constantly feeding on the milk. If you were to give them the meat of the word, they would choke, they get offended and just like small children they throw tantrums.
Because they do not learn or they forget what they have been taught, baby Christians are very shallow in the knowledge of the word and they are also self-focused. Just like a baby they think of themselves and everything is about them and when they do not get what they want they throw a tantrum.
Every believer has a personal responsibility to grow and take responsibility within the body of Christ to find their place and function. Growth cannot come unless we dig into the word of God and apply it in our lives and that is a personal decision that each believer has to make.
Are you growing or have you made up your mind to stay a spiritual babe?
Do you have to be taught and reminded the same things over and over again yet there is no change in your life?
It is time for us to mature and teach the next generation of believers, they are waiting on us.
