You can get better at anything if you practice. Friends of mine practice gardening, always learning and improving their skills at growing flowers and vegetables and fruits. Physicians describe their medical work as a practice, developing an experienced eye in treating health issues over many years of work. Even that dastardly yet magnificent game of golf yields to practice—or so I’m told.

It pays to practice when it comes to the Scriptures as well. The writer of Hebrews chided the church in Rome over their lack of growth: Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

This group failed to engage with the Scriptures beyond a cursory level. Their shallowness grew evident as the society around them pressed in. They appeared to have trouble with what was good and what was evil, difficulty with right living. They faced persecution, and it eased the pressure to pump the brakes on living by God’s word in their pagan city.

Instead of remaining childish, these young believers were encouraged to further exercise the things they had been taught: Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Constant use refers to training, working out, practicing, meaningful activity guided toward a specific end. By delving into the Scriptures daily, over weeks and months and years, the disciple gains wisdom, a certain gravitas, and more easily avoids the evil laid before them.

No one gains anything from staying in the kiddie pool when it comes to the teachings of the Bible. It pays to practice, be it gardening or medicine or golf—and especially when understanding the Scriptures in order to live as a fully engaged follower of Jesus.

Hebrews 5 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Sandie Clarke