Sage Voice

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:14 NIV). The first lesson we learn from this verse is that spiritual maturity is the portion of those who are responsible—responsible for themselves first, then for others by helping them to believe right and to live right.  Solid food is for the mature. Here the writer refers to the teaching and practice of righteousness as solid food. He goes further to tell us who the mature are, and he says they are the Christians "who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." 'Constant use' meaning, constant practice or habit.   To help us grasp what he intends to say in this verse, the writer uses the Greek word "gumnazo" translated "trained" in NIV and "exercised" in KJV. This word actually means to gym, that is, to exercise the body or the mind in preparation for athletics or games. It refers to the ...

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).  Spiritual maturity among Christians also manifests in taking up responsibilities in agreement with the word of God.  According to the key verse above, you are God's handiwork. This means that God has carefully designed you following a thorough plan for your life—how you appear now and how you will appear in the future.  You are not here by accident. You are here by divine plan. So you are here for a purpose.  What is purpose? Purpose is the intent for a design. You have something in mind that you want to make it appear in real life. The intent for which it should appear is known as purpose.  A handiwork, better still, a masterpiece, is a craft that depicts a designer's utmost skill and competence. When you harness all your skill, creativity, ingenuity, shrewdness, smartness and wittiness derived through wisdom or experience, the...

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen (2 Peter 3:18 NIV).  This is Peter speaking. He was a fisher when Jesus met him. Jesus took him in and changed his worldview completely. He went from catching fish to catching people for Christ. He must have applied the tools and techniques for harvesting fish to harvesting souls for Christ.  With the knowledge he received from Jesus Christ, Peter was able to lead his team to convince many more others to give their lives to Christ. And today, the same person is telling you to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Grace becomes effectual as you increase in knowledge and understanding. Remember what God said about his people in the Old Testament? "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. 'Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ig...