Constant Use...
“By solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:14
Though we are not sure who the writer of Hebrews is, I know this, this dude was pretty smart. On surface this verse is easy to read, and if I’m not careful I will miss the full effect of what the writer is saying. I almost bypassed the most important part of this verse, “who by constant use”. The writer gets the audience’s attention by essentially saying, you know why solid food is for the mature, because they took what they learned and used it so they can move past the milk and into the meat. But they acquired a life of consistency. A life of building slowly but surely an immovable fortress in God’s word.
The illustration that comes to mind for me is the that of baseball. When I was a kid I learned the basics, how to throw, catch, hit, run the bases. All the things that you do in baseball. But after I learned the basics, it’s not like I was ready to be in the major leagues. I had to play every year, practices numerous hours, learn rules, learn how to score baseball. Now after nearly 17 years of my life dedicated to the game, I can watch the game of baseball and understand all the ins and outs, the good and bad, the whys and the hows. It was a constant learning experience, and even now I learn more every time I watch the game. I forget that in a lot of ways my Christian walk is like sports. I need to be constant, I need to have consistency in what I do. I need to have the ability to be steady in my walk. Often I get all excited and I sprint out of the box with zeal and with vigor. Then I get tied, it gets hard, and eventually I drop out. But maybe instead, I should be a little more deliberate in what happens, be more stuck on the path, be more consistant in certain things. In the long run my faith will be strong, rather than inconsistent.
Lord please build me in consistency.
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