I spent a few minutes studying the Bible this morning asking the Holy Spirit to clear the junk out of my mind and allow me to hear what He wanted me to hear, and I came across a few treasures. They’re treasures that lead to even greater wealths of knowledge in God.

So allow me to execute one of these treasures right here and now.

Hebrews 3:12-15 warns each of us to be careful and diligent to prevent any one of us from falling victim to an evil, unbelieving heart that will lead us to fall away from the Living God. We are instructed in verse 13 to exhort (strongly encourage or urge someone to do something) each other EVERY DAY. This is to keep us from hardening our hearts by the deceitfulness of sin. The Holy Spirit is saying, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

This is my exhortation for you and myself today.

Stop focusing on the basics of Christianity to the point of wasting time! Why do so many people, myself included, spend years just studying and playing around with the elementary teachings of Christ? Hebrews 5:12 – 6:12 address this very issue. (Read it) For many of us it is far past time to move on from basic Christianity and on to answering the call that God has placed on our lives! The message of salvation, repentance from dead works, faith in God, how to live, healing, prayer, etc… All of these have been clearly written about in God’s Word. The author of Hebrews (likely Paul) calls these things the “elementary doctrine of Christ.” Learn it quickly and move on to the meat and potatoes that God has for you.

If you’re wondering what God has in store for the mature, you’ll find it in verse 14. It is the very embodiment of living a Spirit filled life. Those who recognize that the Holy Spirit is living in them and follow him accordingly are the ones who “have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

So what does all of this mean? God’s Word is showing us that spiritual maturity goes beyond basic knowledge of the Bible and into a life where the Holy Spirit, not just the Bible, becomes our guide. God’s Word is the starting point for our spiritual growth. It is full of the milk that we need to begin growing, but we can’t stop there. God’s Word leads us to the Holy Spirit and teaches us to live and follow the Spirit. Use the Bible and the Holy Spirit to train your powers of discernment constantly to distinguish good from evil. Like it or not, if you want to grow strong in your faith and abilities in God, you have to move on from the milk of just reading the Bible and on to the solid food of conversations with the Holy Spirit.

Meat and potatoes.