A Better Maturity
Milk, Movement, and Maturity
There’s a difference between falling down and sitting down.
A fall is sudden. Abrupt. Often painful—like when you’re skating and your feet fly out from under you. You hit the ice hard, stunned and embarrassed, but fully aware that something went wrong.
Sitting down is different. If you slowly lower yourself onto the ice, you might not feel much different from standing. Still stable. Still cold. No sharp impact. Nothing alarming.
Most of us know what it feels like to fail spiritually. We name it, confess it, and—by God’s grace—get back up. But spiritual stagnation is harder to notice. Nothing feels “wrong.” We’re still attending. Still believing. Still nodding along. But growth has quietly stalled.
Hebrews is written to a church in exactly that place—not rebelling, but sitting down.
When Faith Stops Moving
Think of a river. When water flows, it stays clear. But when it stops moving, it doesn’t take long for things to grow murky. Sediment settles. What was never meant to stay begins to accumulate.
That’s the danger Hebrews is addressing.
“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you have become dull of hearing.” (Hebrews 5:11)
“Dull of hearing” doesn’t mean incapable. It means unpracticed. The issue isn’t intelligence—it’s attentiveness. Somewhere along the way, listening gave way to coasting.
The tone shifts here. Up to this point, Hebrews has been lifting our eyes to Jesus—better than angels, a better human, greater than Moses, greater than Joshua, our compassionate and faithful high priest. The mood has been pastoral and encouraging.
But at Hebrews 5:11, the preacher pauses mid-sermon.
“We have much more to say… but you’re not ready to hear it.”
This isn’t anger. It’s alarm.
Milk Is Good—But It’s Not the Goal
The author reaches for an image everyone understands: infants and adults.
“Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths… You need milk, not solid food.” (Hebrews 5:12)
Milk is good. Necessary. Life-giving. But it is not the goal. Foundations are meant to be built on, not lived on.
Spiritual immaturity isn’t about holding wrong beliefs—it’s about unfinished beliefs. Somewhere along the way, growth stopped. Faith became repetitive rather than responsive.
Here’s the hard truth: spiritual maturity is not measured by how long you’ve been a Christian, but by whether your faith has been exercised.
The author assumes that over time, believers should grow enough to help others grow. Teaching, in this sense, isn’t about platforms or titles—it’s about passing on a lived faith.
Truth is not meant to be merely agreed with. It is meant to be practiced.
From Warning to Wake-Up Call
As Hebrews moves into chapter 6, the language intensifies—and understandably so. These are some of the most sobering words in the New Testament, and they must be handled with care.
This is not a threat meant to terrify sincere believers. It is a warning meant to awaken complacent ones.
The passage is not describing ordinary sin, doubt, burnout, or seasons of dryness. It is describing deliberate, public abandonment of Christ after fully experiencing the life of faith. Not stumbling—but turning away. Not questions—but rejection.
The impossibility described is not that God refuses forgiveness. It is that repentance becomes impossible when Christ Himself is rejected as the means of renewal.
If you are worried this passage applies to you, that concern itself is evidence that it does not. Apostasy in Hebrews is not accidental. It is settled, chosen, and justified.
Hebrews is not anti-questions. It is anti-abandonment.
Grace That Calls Us Forward
Then comes the image of rain falling on land.
The rain is God’s grace.
The land is our lives.
The same grace falls on all.
What grows reveals what has been cultivated.
And just when the weight feels heavy, the writer softens:
“We are confident of better things in your case.” (Hebrews 6:9)
This is pastoral reassurance. Salvation is not fragile. But maturity must be pursued.
Faith is dynamic. Growth requires movement.
God is always at work in us—but we are not passive recipients. Maturity is not something we drift into. It is something we pursue, practice, and live out together.
Milk is good. But it is not the goal.
So keep pressing on.
Keep practicing faith.
Keep encouraging one another daily.
God is not finished with you.
And the rest He promises is worth the journey.