Hearing What You Have Never Heard Before

 December 7, 2024

Saturday

Hebrews 5:13 (NASB 2020) ¹³ For everyone who partakes only of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

There are times for all of us that we read familiar passages from the Bible and see something we have never noticed before. Where did that come from? Why didn't we notice this before? It is the same reason that people will hear something taught and ask why I have never taught this significant revelation before. I have, but they weren't ready for it.

Just like a juicy steak won't appeal to a baby, some of the essential spiritual teachings won't appeal to us. We filter these things out because we have no means of processing them. As we mature, or I should say, if we mature, we become ready to "hear" what we haven't heard before.

Since Paul and the author of Hebrews chastise people for not being ready to hear after they have had a sufficient time to mature, we should recognize that we have something to do with our readiness. It isn't like a child simply not being "reading ready" before we teach them to read. Peter encourages his readers:

1 Peter 2:2 (NASB 2020)² and like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

Craving the word of God is not natural in the flesh. It is essential in the Spirit. It is a discipline that must be maintained. Disciplines themselves are not natural. It is not natural that a person exercises. The body would rather sit at rest. It takes discipline to exercise. It takes time with discipline to make a significant change. The same is true of our spiritual selves. We have lived in the world among a people in the flesh more than living with Christians who are themselves disciplined to be in the Spirit. Thus, we must make the decision to set our minds on the Spirit and crave the word of God. This is when our eyes begin to be opened and we become ready for the solid food of God's word.

The positive note on this is that "hearing" something that you believe you never heard before proves that you are maturing or you would not have heard it now. So, continue to "hear" what you have never heard before.