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We don’t know who exactly wrote the book of Hebrews, or who he was addressing, but whoever he was, he sure wasn’t holding many punches:
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food.
— Hebrews 5:12
He wasn’t being petty—he was calling out a real problem. These believers had been in the faith long enough to be mentoring others, but they were still spiritually immature. Still needing to be nursed themselves like children.
We see it all the time in the body of Christ—saints who’ve been saved for years but are still stuck in their infancy. There may be a genuine desire to know God and grow in His grace, but some key ingredients appear to be missing. Some nourishment or cultivation that has yet to take place.
How does this happen exactly? Isn’t attending Sunday church services and engaging in the occasional prayer enough to develop a mature believer? Shouldn’t we expect that at some point, all of that immersion in the Word will have an effect?
No.
This past week in Tuesday Teachings, we discussed spiritual maturity to unpack what it means and how we can achieve it. As I studied the scriptures in preparation, one word emerged as central to the discussion: teleios.
TEH-lei-os.
adj.
complete, perfect, mature
Being complete or perfect in our walk with the Lord takes more than good attendance or even good book knowledge. It requires a bigger commitment and a greater transformation. In the teaching, I covered four levels (or categories) of maturity that all require development:
Knowledge — understanding of the Word, principles, doctrines, etc.
Wisdom — discernment of God’s will (individual and collective), and of good and evil
Character — having fruits of the Spirit; being Christlike
Endurance — faith that persists, joy that uplifts
Knowledge of the Word can be hard enough to come by on its own, as the story of the Ethiopian eunuch conveys, and that’s just the first part of the equation.
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
— Acts 8:26-31
If simply understanding the principles and doctrines of the faith is challenging, what chance do we have to advance beyond that if left to our own devices?
Very little.
This brings us to the first of three reasons why some saints may not be maturing as much as they’d like:
1. Lack of Discipleship
You can’t grow if nobody’s pouring into you.
The church—the capital-C Church, the body of Christ—was designed with a built-in growth system. Ephesians 4 lays it out clearly: God gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” That’s the fivefold ministry, and it exists specifically to help us mature.
Or at least that is the intent.
Unfortunately, some pastors are more concerned with growing numerically than spiritually. For them, success is more about keeping the seats filled—and offerings flowing—than about ensuring those seats are filled with maturing saints. Sure, the teaching sounds good enough: “God loves you,” “claim your blessings,” and all of that, but there’s no substance beyond the hype. No call to holiness, and no preparation for spiritual warfare or testing.
Some saints have experienced church hurt in the past, and have become bitter or resentful as a result. The scars from a careless or abusive leader keeping them from opening up, forgiving, or trusting.
Others are getting their theology from social media. They’re cobbling together a Frankenstein faith from inspirational quotes, prosperity gospel lite, and whatever feels good in the moment.
And deep community? Fuhgetaboutit! The church of today prefers to “love thy neighbor” from a distance, a far cry from the closeness and intimacy that we saw at the start.
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
— Acts 2:46-47
The result is shallow spirituality, at best. No depth of character or resolve to prevent the children from being “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful scheme” (Ephesians 4:14).
You can’t eat meat if nobody’s around to prepare you for it (or it for you).
How to Overcome: Get yourself under sound teaching. Find a church—or a consistent fellowship—where the Word is being taught with depth, authority, and sensitivity. If you can’t find that locally, tap into solid online ministries. But don’t just consume passively—engage. Take notes. Ask questions. Find a mentor or spiritual father/mother who can speak into your life. And if you’ve been in the faith for a minute? It’s time for you to start discipling someone else. Teaching is one of the best ways to solidify your own understanding.
2. Lack of Discipline
Alright, now we’re getting into deep waters.
You can sit under the best teaching in the world, but if you’re not doing the work yourself, you’re not going to grow. Maturity requires personal discipline—and let me tell you, most of us don’t have it.
We want the microwave version of spiritual growth. We want to show up on Sunday, get our weekly dose of Jesus, and somehow magically transform into mighty men and women of God, but that’s not how it works. Paul told Timothy to “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). Not “hope for godliness.” Not “pray about godliness.” Discipline yourself.
That means you’ve got to be in the Word consistently—not just when you’re in crisis mode. It means you’ve got to have a prayer life that goes deeper than “bless this food.” It means you’ve got to actually apply what you’re learning, which requires consistent self-awareness and honesty about where you’re falling short.
Most saints aren’t willing to do all that work. They want someone else to do the heavy lifting. They want the pastor to pray for them, the prophet to give them a word, the intercessor to carry their burdens. Those things are valuable—but they’re not substitutes for your own personal walk with God.
How to Overcome: Start small but be consistent. Commit to reading your Bible daily—even if it’s just a chapter. Then go deeper—commentaries, books, advanced teaching. “Study to show yourself approved” (2 Timothy 2:15). Set aside specific time for prayer, and protect that time like it’s a business meeting (because it is). Journal what you’re learning and how you’re applying it. Create accountability and connection—tell someone what you’re working on spiritually and give them permission to check in on you. And here’s a big one: fast regularly. Fasting disciplines the flesh and sharpens your spiritual sensitivity like nothing else.
3. Lack of Courage
This is the one nobody wants to talk about, but it might be the biggest issue: some saints don’t mature because they’re scared.
They’re scared of what growth will require. Scared of standing out. Scared of being different. Scared of the persecution that comes with actually living like Christ. Scared of failure. Scared of stepping into the authority God’s already given them.
So they stay comfortable. They stay safe. They stay stuck.
Like the spies that Moses sent into the land of Canaan. Of the twelve, only two returned with the will to move forward. The other ten were so frightened that they “seemed to [themselves] like grasshoppers” (Numbers 13:33).
Growth requires risk. It requires us to step out in faith even when we don’t have all the answers. It requires us to speak up when everyone else is silent. To go against the grain of culture—and sometimes even against the grain of our own church community.
Most believers aren’t willing to do that. They’d rather blend in, stay quiet, and avoid rocking the boat. But we can’t learn to captain the stormy seas of life by staying safe in the harbor.
How to Overcome: Start practicing boldness in small ways. Speak up in Bible study. Share your testimony with someone. Serve in a ministry that stretches you. Say no to things that don’t align with your values, even when it’s uncomfortable. And here’s the real challenge: do something you’re genuinely afraid of doing—something God’s been nudging you toward but you’ve been avoiding. Maybe it’s teaching, maybe it’s leading worship, maybe it’s confronting someone in love. Whatever it is, do it scared. Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s obedience in the presence of fear.
Listen, spiritual maturity isn’t optional—it’s the expectation. God doesn’t want us to stay stuck. He’s calling us to grow up, to put away childish things, to become the mature, powerful, fruit-bearing believers He created us to be.
Yes, growing spiritually can be challenging, but the beautiful thing is God wants to help us do just that. He’s just waiting to deploy the resources of heaven on our behalf.
Don’t believe me? That’s fine. I dare you to pray about it, fast about it, and study the Word for your own revelation. Watch God move to bring you onto a path of true growth and maturity. Just remember, you have to walk it out.