Why spiritual maturity requires more than knowledge—it requires living out the heart of Christ

Hebrews 5:13-14

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil

I am convinced that as the Day draws near, the church will change significantly. It must. God is after a bride that radiates. He’s after a body that reflects the heart of Jesus by living it out, day-to-day, moment by moment, step by step.

A city on a hill that can’t be hidden. That’s should be us. That is the charge to the Believer. We are not called to separate ourselves from this world with some pious attitude. We are called to be in it, and yet not of it. We are called to light up the darkness as we reflect the heart of Christ. But is that how we are living?

Something is missing. Something is gravely wrong. Something is backwards. When the heart of the Believer is more in alignment with the bitter checker at Walmart or the burnt-out bank teller than the heart of Christ, something is askew.

Decades of religion, theology, Bible study, and church and the main course still seems to be milk. We know so much. We can quote it, teach it, preach it, and post it but we don’t seem to reflect it. We aren’t living it. Somehow, something gets lost in translation. What we are taking in is not flowing out. And the city on the hill doesn’t appear all that different from the world.

We claim we love the Lord. But it often seems we love what we want to love and harbor what we want to harbor more, and tighter than our obedience to Christ. It’s a shame. The “justified” lack of obedience to live as we are called, prevents Him from doing what He longs to do in us and through us. And the church gets stifled.

When are we going to get over ourselves enough to get off milk? Isn’t it time? But no. We choose to hang on to our self-righteous views and opinions and take our rightful place as we condemn our brother. The very one God calls us to love unconditionally.

We cling to our right to be right. I was wronged. I was hurt. It doesn’t matter what Jesus says, or how he tells me to live because we feel wounded. We take up an offense so strong that we are crippled to see our own arrogance and pride. The sermons, devotions and scriptures apply to everyone else but us. We’ve shut off all ability to hear God speak by clinging to the very things we are called to lay down. And once again, we are served milk for supper.

The disciples walked with Christ day in and day out for three years. And yet, the day He was crucified, they were on milk. They were weak. The night before He was crucified, they argued about who would be the greatest. Milk issues.

What about us? How many more wasted years will we live because we refuse to empty ourselves of ourselves? How much more theology will we ingest and still reflect something other than the heart of Christ?

Maybe this city on the hill should be hidden. Maybe we’ve become a stumbling block to a lost world, and don’t even know it.

We need to grow-up in our faith. We need to mature. Theology means nothing unless it is applied and lived out. Satan can do theological circles around all of us, and he will still burn in hell. His pride, too great. His ego too big. The desire to hold onto his will over the will of Christ dictated how he chose to live.

We are in that season. It’s beginning. He is separating the wheat from the tares. The prideful from the humble. The stubborn from the pliable. The Pharisees from the genuine. The one who can’t forgive from the one who forgives. The judgmental from the nonjudgmental. You get it.

Start today. Allow Him to do the deep cleansing work needed. What needs to be added to your life, and what needs to be purged. He longs to be closer to you. Do you want to be close to Him? Allow Him to purify your heart so you reflect Christ in all ways and be a part of that city on a hill that won’t be hidden.