Hebrews 5:13, 14 - The Discerning Spirit and Insight.
Hebrews 5:13, 14 (NKJV) For everyone who
partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to
those who are of full age, that is, those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 5:13, 14 (AMP) For everyone who
continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced
and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness
(of conformity to the divine will in purpose,
thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not
able to talk yet]! But solid food is for
full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental
faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and
distinguish between what is morally good and noble and
what is evil and contrary either to divine or
human law.
Hebrews 5:13, 14 (TLB) And when a person is
still living on milk it shows he isnt very far
along in the Christian life, and doesnt know
much about the difference between right and
wrong. He is still a baby Christian! You will never
be able to eat solid spiritual food and
understand the deeper things of Gods Word until you
become better Christians and learn right from wrong
by practicing doing right.
INTRODUCTION
In a world filled with endless sources of
information and opinions, believers need to develop a
discerning spirit. Otherwise, how will we know what is
true? Much of what we see and hear is based on a
worldly perspective that is influenced by Satan, the
Father of Lies. Deception is found even in the
religious realm: cults mix lies with enough truth to
make some people consider them legitimate
Christian institutions.
The only way believers can guard against
deception is to ground themselves in God's Word. The
more time you spend filling your mind with the
Lord's thoughts, the more discerning you will be.
However, just knowing biblical truth isn't enough.
You must put what you learn into practice so
that it becomes more than head knowledge.
The goal is to let God's Word become such
an integral part of your thinking that it
guides all your decisions. Even if the situation
you're facing isn't specifically addressed in the
Bible, scriptural principles provide the needed
wisdom for every choice. In addition, the Holy
Spirit was given to each believer as a Helper,
whose job is to guide you into all the truth (John
14:26; 16:13). However, your responsibility is to
put God's Word into your mind so that He can
bring it to your remembrance. If you neglect the
Word, you'll lack discernment.
What are you allowing into your mind? Is
Scripture high in your priorities? Unless you're
careful, worldly thinking will overpower spiritual
discernment. It's difficult to keep God's perspective in
the forefront if you spend two or three hours in
front of the television and only ten minutes in
the Bible. [In Touch Daily Devotional by Charles
Stanley at www.intouch.org]
COMMENTARY PEARL
Are you ready for a surprise? You blink
twenty-five times every minute. Each blink takes you
about one-fifth of a second. Therefore, if you
take a ten-hour automobile trip, averaging forty
miles per hour, you will drive twenty miles with
your eyes closed.
I know a fact far more surprising than
that. Some people go through life with their eyes
closed. They look but don't really "see" they
observe the surface but omit the underneath they
focus on images but not issues vision is
present but perception is absent. If life were a
painting, they would see colors but no genius in the
strokes of the brush. If it were a journey, they
would notice a road but no majestic, awesome
scenery. If it were a meal, they would eat and drink
but overlook the exquisite beauty of the china
and the delicate touch of wine in the sauce. If
it were a poem, they would read print on the
page but miss altogether the passion of the poet.
Remove insight and you suddenly reduce life to
existence with frequent flashes of boredom and
indifference.
Those without insight dwell mainly in the
realm of the obvious the expected the
essentials. The dimensions that interest them are length
and width, not depth. Please understand, I do
not mean to be critical of those who cannot go
deeper but of those who can but will not. I'm
not pointing my finger at inability but rather
refusal.
As a concrete illustration, take the
boatload of disciples in Mark, chapter 6. Immediately
after Jesus had miraculously fed thousands of
people with a few loaves and fish, He sent His men
away in a boat as He slipped off to a quiet place
on the mountain to pray. A storm later broke
upon the sea and they were filled with panic. He
came to their rescue shortly thereafter and
calmed the sea as He stilled the wind and assured
them there was no reason to be afraid. Mark makes
a comment worth remembering:
They were utterly astonished, for they
had not gained any insight from the incident of
the loaves, but their heart was hardened. (Mark
6:51"52)
It wasn't that they were unable to
understand. They didn't want to understand! William
Barclay of Glasgow says, "Their minds were obtuse."
That was the root problem. Those men were
insensitive, dull, blunt-brained. They weren't
ding-a-lings by nature, but by choice - and therein
rested not the tragedy but the blame! They didn't
need Jesus's pity as much as they deserved a
rebuke. By then they had been sufficiently exposed
to their miracle-working Master to respond with
keen insight to their circumstances. Had they
applied what they observed earlier that day when the
thousands were fed, their response to the storm would
have been insightful.
Hebrews 5 is addressed to similar
disciples today. Hours upon hours have been logged
under the teaching of the Word, and opportunities
to use those truths have been legion. But what
does this passage say? It says some have become
"dull of hearing" - thick, lazy, sluggish, lacking
insight. Maturity - the result of mixing insight with
practice - is rare today and so the discernment
between good and evil, brought on by "trained
senses," is frequently conspicuous by its absence.
What are a few practical rewards? Parents
with insight usually raise kids that are secure,
fulfilled, relaxed, free to forge out ideas and to
think. Single adults with insight won't feel they
must marry - the sooner the better. Teachers with
insight create an atmosphere conducive to learning.
Bosses with insight develop employees and remain
sensitive to surrounding needs. Students with insight
learn far more than the required subject - they
indeed glean an education.
I challenge you: Open your eyes! Think!
Apply! Dig! Listen! There's a lot of difference
between necessary blinking and unnecessary
blindness. [Chuck Swindoll www.insight.org.]
ILLUSTRATION
Hot Dog Faith
Who doesn't love hot dogs? Sure, some
people shy away from this frankly popular frank.
But most Americans love to eat hot dogs - lots
of them.
During just the Fourth of July holiday,
Americans consume 150 million frankfurters! If you put
that many hot dogs in a line, they would stretch
around the world from New York City to Sydney,
Australia.
But have you ever looked at the
ingredients in an inexpensive hot dog? The first
ingredient is almost always mechanically separated
turkey or chicken. But what is that? According to
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), it's
a "paste-like and batter-like poultry product
produced by forcing bones, with attached edible
tissue, through a sieve or similar device under high
pressure." Yum. Most hot dogs contain pork, which the
USDA says can be any "meat" removed from the bone
by "advanced meat recovery machinery." Other
ingredients include water, corn syrup, beef, salt,
sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium
nitrate, and maltodextrin.
Does your mouth water thinking of those
ingredients? Probably not.
Sadly, for the last fifty years, people
have been building their religious beliefs like a
cheap hot dog. Instead of following God's Word and
fundamental Christianity, they fuse together their own
beliefs by grabbing a little of this philosophy, a
bit of another idea, and a smidgen of some other
outlook and jamming them all together. Maybe you
know somebody who says he believes in God, but
doesn't believe in hell and thinks we should do
whatever makes us feel best.
That can look good on the outside - sort
of like a hot dog - but inside it's a pasty,
bland, and non-nutritious belief system. God wants
us to be strong. He gave us the Bible so that
we could know what to believe and how to live
for him. Yet many people pick and choose which
parts they want to believe. Then they mix in
harmful additives from other religions.
That's not healthy (sort of like eating a
cheap hot dog). When you eat the pure meat of
God's Word, you grow strong in your faith. The
writer of Hebrews says, "Solid food is for the
mature, who by constant use have trained themselves
to distinguish good from evil." By reading your
Bible and listening to godly teachers, you feed
yourself good meat ... not some strange, harmful
mystery meat. [Case For Christ For Kids by Les
Strobel mod.]
CLOSING THOUGHT
Mature believers understand the heavenly
priesthood of Jesus Christ and know how to come to the
throne of grace for help. They are skillful in
using God's truth in their personal lives, and
they can also teach others. Do you qualify?
[Chapter by Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren
Wiersbe]
EXCELLENT VIDEO SERIES ON 28 REVELATIONS OF
JESUS
1st of 28: Divine Dining:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_7j1QIKqmY
2nd of 28: Pictures of the Divine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lNI-OQ7-eQ
3rd of 28: A Dirty Bible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMkPvBuuFd4
4th of 28: Cared For:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztXyJVdcCds
5th of 28: Saved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX45kGRe1HI
6th of 28: You Can Change:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd0gkvK18fo
7th of 28: Reprogramming Our Brains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov36f_RapXc
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs FGGibbs@abible.com
