“Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.  And this we will do, if God permits.” Hebrews 6:1-3

Andrew Murray (woe to any aspiring disciple who does not read Andrew Murray) had this to say regarding pressing on toward maturity:

“…(I)t is so often said: there is no safety but in advance. To stand still is to go back. To cease effort is to lose ground. To slacken the pace before the goal is to lose the race. The only mark of our being true Christians, of really loving Him, is the deep longing and steady effort to know more of Him.“

Notice Murray does not say, “know more about Him,” or “know more of His teachings.” The knowing of which Murray and the Scriptures speak is a deep, experiential knowing. “To know of Him” in the English of Murray’s day was used when you had a deeper personal experience with the one of whom you were speaking. Indeed, in the scriptures to know Christ in this way is like the intimate knowing shared by husband and wife.

The list of things to leave behind laid out in Hebrews 6 includes “…repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.” These topics are considered “elementary teaching about the Christ” by the writer. Such basic teaching is good only for new converts. This is the sincere milk of the Word for which we are to long when we are newborn babes in Christ.

But if as adults we are still being fed only milk, only pablum, we would be considered developmentally delayed. And for good reason. Most believers are being fed these basic topics Sunday after Sunday, decade after decade. They never progress beyond these elementary levels because no one encourages them to do so. They have no one guiding them into intimacy with Christ.

Our God addressed this issue through the prophet Hosea: “For I desire loyalty rather than sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). What our God has always desired from His children is intimate love, communion, and a loyal preoccupation with Him. The rituals of the law were no substitute for intimacy with Him. The sacrifices and burnt offerings were to the Hebrews what the list in Hebrews 6 is to new believers now. It is basic stuff, but not the stuff of a maturing faith.

Hosea 6:3 “So let’s know, let us press on to know the Lord. His appearance is as sure as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, as the spring rain waters the earth.”

Here is the call to of our God to His people to press on to intimacy and drink deeply from Himself. The writer to the Hebrews has the same message: “let us press on toward maturity.” The maturity of which he speaks is the life of Christ lived in us. We hold His life in us by intimate love, communion, and loyal preoccupation with Him. It is for this we were created, and for this we are redeemed.

But we must press on into this life. “Pressing on” is so much more than the pablum of slick services on Sunday and quick devotionals most days. Such institutional religious practices will leave practitioners spiritually developmentally delayed. We must press on into a life-consuming pursuit that crowds our self-living and religiosity off the stage. It is the one pursuit that overtakes, overrules, and overcomes all – literally all – other pursuits. Read earlier posts on this site for more on this one pursuit.

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him,” said the writer to the Hebrews in 11:6, “for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.” Not seek Him a bit, or even a bit more. The word “seek” here means to diligently and earnestly, even arduously search for something. In this case that diligent seeking is for that continual, conscious conversational communion with our God that replaces all of our self-living. Only those who search earnestly with all diligence will find Him.

Here will be the fulfillment of all the promises of our God. This diligent, earnest pursuit to know our God leads to the fullness of God Himself in us by His indwelling Spirit. By it we find our self-derived living and religiosity replaced by the life of God in Christ. The promised “rivers of living water,” the indwelling Holy Spirit will begin to fill us and flow out of us into the world.

This is why Hosea and the writer to the Hebrews enjoin us to press on, for only in diligently pressing on can we gain all for which we have been redeemed. Murray goes on: “… God’s seal to my soul is the Holy Spirit; it is in a life with the Spirit that my safety lies; it is when I am led by the Spirit that the Spirit bears witness with my spirit and that I can cry, “Abba, Father!” Jesus not only gives life but is Himself life. My assurance of salvation is alone to be found in living fellowship with the living Jesus in love and obedience.”

If we would know the assurance of salvation and the fullness of our union with our God, let us press on to loving Him, to an intimate communion and a loyal preoccupation with Him. Let us press on to surrendering all of this life to Him so as to gain His life in us. This is what it is to “press on maturity.”

Image via author, pressing on the trail between Pyramid and Ball Lakes, Selkirk Range, Northern Idaho.