Text: Hebrews 6:1-6
Memory verse:
âof whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.â
ââHebrews⏠â5âŹ:â11⏠âNKJVâŹâŹ
Intellectual disability is a condition that limits intelligence. It can be genetic or the result of a disorder that interferes with brain development. It is usually characterized by below-average intelligence or mental ability and limitations in learning or slow learning.
This is different from the arrested spiritual development that Paul described as the condition of the Hebrew believers. âof whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.â ââ(Heb⏠â5âŹ:â11⏠âNKJVâŹâŹ). They were hard to teach and dull of hearing, ought to be able to teach but couldnât and were babes (Heb 5:12-13). Some other translations describe their condition as âslow to understand; sluggish in [your spiritual] hearing and disinclined to listen; no longer try to understand; spiritually dull and donât seem to listen; so slow to grasp spiritual truthâ.
It wasnât the problem of the lack of teachers but of the unreadiness and unwillingness of the believers to listen and to learn. Paul wanted to teach deep things about Melchedezek, but he feared that they wouldnât be able to grasp it. He had little time but they had little capacity. This inability wasnât a natural or inherent weakness but the result of past neglect and a gradual deterioration.
Theyâve been fed with the spiritual milk of the word at the early years of their conversion and had grown past it. Unfortunately, instead of growing up, they had now declined to the level of feeding on milk again. Itâs like an adolescent who quit regular food and went back to baby formula!
Hebrews 5:12 (KJV) says ââŠand are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.â The phrase âand are becomeâ means they didnât start out dull. They were fast losing their spiritual experiences. Neurologists have established one of the causes of the loss of memory as a sudden or gradual intellectual inactivity especially for someone who was once active.
Our text shows that it is possible âfor those who were once enlightenedâ to fall away; and to drift away (Heb 2:1; 6:4).
Friends, considering your early Christian experiences, are you growing up or growing down? Are you acting your spiritual age? Itâs hard to go upwards but easy to fall downwards. Watch out. You wonât drift or fall away in Jesusâ name.
Prayer points
1. Holy Spirit, quicken me and reverse every spiritual deterioration and stupor in my life, in Jesusâ name.
2. I refuse to grow downward, to drift away or to fall away from grace, in Jesusâ name.
Todayâs declarations
1. I am awake from spiritual decline to act my spiritual age.
2. I strive for spiritual understanding, and I am not dull of hearing, nor slow to listening or learning.
Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng