Verse of the Day 11/5

Through the Bible - Jeremiah 44-45, Hebrews 5   Good morning, Yesterday I flew from Raleigh to Philadelphia on business.  I expected to see beautiful colors from the air, but instead what I saw from 20,000 feet were varying shades of brown which were fairly dull.  As the plane descended, more color became visisble.  Once on the ground and driving in neighborhoods I could see the vibrant colors as they really were.   That's how it is with God's Word sometimes.  Viewed from a distance we will not see the beauty the full color that is there.  It is not until you are immersed in the Word that you see the majesty and grandeur, the full color of the Word.   In Hebrews 5 the author indicates that he had expected to see more growth in the people, but their sense of God's Word had grown dull.   Heb 5:11 About  (the apostasy of falling away) we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.   ESV John Piper writes, "The opposite of dullness is diligence or earnestness to turn the message of hope into the assurance of hope; it's the imitation of people who hear the promises of God and then respond with faith and patience. So dull hearing doesn't mean there is anything wrong with your physical ears. It means there is something wrong with your heart. The heart is not eager and diligent to embrace the promises and turn them into faith and patience. Instead, the Word comes into the ears and goes down to the heart and hits something hard or tough—or starting to get hard. That's dullness of hearing."   Today's verses should encourage us to grow, to be skilled in and hear from the Word.   Heb 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.   NKJV John Piper continues, "A word of Jesus from Luke 8:18 is very important here. When he had finished telling the parable of the four soils where the seed is the Word he says, "Therefore take care how you hear; for whoever has, to him shall more be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him." In other words, if you have the grace to hear (with faith and fruit), you will get more grace; but if you do not, even what you think you have will be taken away—namely, the Word."   We should be diligent to be immersed in God's Word, to see the color, the glory.  What happens when you see the full colors along the Blue Ridge Parkway or elsewhere?  You tell others about what you see.  So it should be with what we see and learn from God through His Word.  We should desire, be glad to have the opportunity to share it.  In doing so we'll be given more grace, grace to see even more.   Enjoy the full color of fall, even more enjoy the glory of the full gospel.   In Christ, Mike   Heb 5:11-6:4 A Call to Spiritual Growth 11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don't seem to listen. 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. 6 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don't need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. 2 You don't need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.  NLT