Digging for Treasure

In the world of mining, it’s often the deepest mines in the most challenging places that yield the richest treasure.  And sometimes it’s like that with the Word of God.  Sometimes the places where we have to do the most digging and work the hardest give us some of the greatest spiritual reward.  The Book of Hebrews is one such place.  It is full of treasure, but one needs to rolls up one’s sleeves and do some hard work digging to understand its message.

For all its richness, the basic message and core purpose of Hebrews is very simple:  it is written to keep us from drifting away from Jesus – from doubting His power to save – from allowing our hearts to seek truth and meaning elsewhere.  The Book of Hebrews was first written to a group of Jewish believers who had come to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah.  But over time, they were beginning to doubt and drift.  They were beginning to wonder if Jesus truly was able to save them from their sin – to give them access to the God of heaven?  They were beginning to ask whether they would be safer to return with their friends to the Synagogue and the Temple.  For most of us today, our temptation won’t be to turn back to traditional Judaism.  Instead, our temptation will be to drift from Jesus to seek truth in the great cultural influences of our day.  Or the temptation will be to succumb to the constant pressure around us simply to doubt that Jesus is the sure and true way to God.  

The writer of Hebrews urges his readers to stick with Jesus in the face of the temptation to drift away.  And he pleads with them to mine the treasures of God’s Word to pursue spiritual maturity.  As he writes, “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 6:12)   A life of spiritual maturity is marked by righteousness.  In contrast, “everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.” (Hebrews 6:13)  Just as a child who eats soft foods in the high chair is unskilled in the use of cutlery, so too the Christian who only absorbs the elementary teachings of Scripture is unskilled in handling the Bible’s harder truths and warnings.   

The key question is whether we are hungry for more?  Or do we only ever handle foundational teachings and basic truths?  It is possible to stagnate in terms of our spiritual development because we simply cannot or will not digest substantial teaching. To grow, we need to go deep in our understanding of the Word of God so that we develop a rich biblical knowledge and a robust Christian worldview.  Over time, Christians who feast upon the solid teachings of Scripture develop sound judgment and discernment.  Right thinking, in turn, produces godly living.  As the writer of Hebrews explains, “solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil”  (Hebrews 6:14). 

Hebrews is indeed a stretching book to study.  But it is worth every ounce of effort “mining” its rich terrain.  Be encouraged today:  as you taste “the goodness of the word of God” (Hebrews 6:5) and allow its life-transforming truth to refine you, Christ’s righteousness will take hold of you.  Let us, therefore, dig deep and “leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity….” (Heb.6:1)