Hope doesn’t come easily, and it doesn’t last long if it’s based solely on circumstances. That’s because when things are going well in our lives, hope bubbles up and lingers. But when tough times come, our sense of hope fades away and sometimes disappears.
The biblical idea of hope is different. In Scripture, hope is something that endures. It endures because it’s based on the eternal, living Lord and not on our circumstances. 
The theme of spiritual maturity in Christ takes center stage in the Book of Hebrews. If we press on toward maturity in Christ, we’ll rejoice in the way He strengthens us. Those who fall away from devotion to Christ because of life’s difficulties or because of opposition to the faith prove they need to grow in their faith or that they never have truly received salvation in Him.
The writer of Hebrews contended that by now his readers should have been much more mature in the faith than they were acting (see 5:11-14). He compared them to infants whose diet consists only of milk rather than solid food. Many were acting so spiritually immature they still needed to be fed only the “milk” of God’s Word.
In the writer’s judgment, they should have been mature enough by that time to teach others. Instead, they were stuck in spiritual kindergarten, still in need of mastering the ABCs of the gospel.
The time had come for these believers to move on toward maturity in Christ. That’s the urgent message the writer of Hebrews wanted to impress on those who were wavering in faith.
What about you? Does your hope come and go based on life’s circumstances? Are you growing up in your faith?
From Explore the Bible: Hebrews 1-7. Preview one session of Explore the Bible for FREE!
