Hebrews 5:12-14 NLT
[12] “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. [13] For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. [14] Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

The writer to the Hebrews aimed this rebuke at believers who still behaved like unbelievers. They acted like babies who suck their nourishment from a bottle because they have no teeth to eat solid food and an immature digestion that can only cope with milk.

The writer contrasts an immature believer with an adult who can eat solid food…a juicy steak or a meal of meat and vegetables…because he has an adult digestive system.

A Christian who overreacts to every offense, who collapses under every adversity, who stresses about every challenge, who sinks into depression over every difficulty, is like a baby drinking milk. He doesn’t have the stomach for solid food.

What’s the problem? Immature believers are still children at heart, not child-like but childish. They have never learned to stand up under pressure. They are selfish, measuring every part of their everyday lives by the way it affects them.

You see, believing in Jesus isn’t just about adopting another religion or living by a different set of rules. It’s about coming under the authority of a new master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Before we were given His nature and began a new life when we received Him as Lord, we were the centre of our lives. We measured everything that happened by the way it affected us, and our emotions drove our actions to respond accordingly.

Before we received Jesus as Lord, we thought we were in charge. However, in the background, there was a powerful spirit influencing our thinking by highlighting self… I, me, myself, and mine! Whatever happens, it’s good or bad according to the way it affects me and…I react accordingly. I get angry, I sulk, I get depressed, I retaliate…all my responses to what touches me, my ego, my selfishness, my self-preservation.

This kind of behaviour is the essence of a child’s way of responding to his experience. He responds with feelings aroused by what happens to him. Sulking, temper tantrums when he is thwarted, fists flying in retaliation when he is affronted, rebellion when he is disciplined, and even suicide when he is bullied… the old nature on steroids! …These are the responses of immaturity driven by emotions, devoid of reason.

Now let’s look at the mature believer. What is his motive and his goal? It’s not about pandering to self for comfort and covenience. It’s about taking control of self for the sake of preserving and promoting love and unity and serving others.

Self-control is part of the fruit the Holy Spirit grows in us as we submit to His leading, teaching, and discipline. Like a young horse being broken in…trained to take a rider who will exercise authority over him…as believers in Jesus, we have relinquished control over our own lives to our Master. When we act as though we are still our own master, we will behave accordingly, taking care of number one at the expense of others.

How can we measure our level of spiritual maturity? Paul gives us standards by which to gauge how far we have come or how much solid food we are able to tolerate.

Here are a few do’s and do not’s…

Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
[3] “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, [4] not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

Ephesians 4:1-3 NIV
[1] “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. [2] Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. [3] Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

Romans 12:17, 19-21 NIV
[17]”Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone…
[19] Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. [20] On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” [21] Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Philippians 2:14-16 NIV
[14] “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, [15] so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky [16] as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.”

These responses need decisions and choices rather than reactions, led and empowered by the Spirit.

Philippians 3:15-16 NIV
[15] “All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. [16] Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”

The prescription Paul offers for a strong “digestion” that is able to cope with the “solid food” of life in God’s kingdom requires drastic action against the demands of our selfish nature, nothing less than death to the flesh.

Romans 8:13 NIV
[13] “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

…to live the abundant life Jesus promised, at peace and free of guilt because we have embraced His life in His realm, under His authority, for His glory.