Don’t be merely tasters of the word of God
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Hebrews 6:5
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
The encouragement today from this verse is to not be merely hearers only, or people who merely do a taste-test with Jesus. The people the author had in mind who have fallen away are like the second kind of hearers in Jesus’ parable of the soils. “In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away” (Mark 4:16-17). The word tasted good, and they felt good about the demonstrations of power they saw in Jesus, but when they were threatened with rejection and expulsion from their communities, they fell away.
In our day, this same thing happens to people who have been raised by faithful believing parents. These adult children have seen and tasted the power of the Holy Spirit manifest in their homes and churches. Because they couldn’t deny the reality of Christ and wanted to please their parents, they gave mental assent to the tenants of the faith. However, as they grew up and faced the challenges and hurts of life in a fallen world, because they didn’t have the faith of Christ birthed within them by the Holy Spirit, they walked away. From their unbelieving perspective, Jesus didn’t work for them. These tasted the good word of God and the power of the age to come (saw the effects of the Holy Spirit in lives around them).
This encourages us to not be taste-testers with Jesus. If we are going to live to love with Jesus, we must abide in Him constantly—drawing from His life—to love others with Him. This is drinking deeply of Christ and digesting His good word and His life. Merely tasting of Jesus and His power isn’t enough for us. We want to see His life and His power at work in us. So today, as you read God’s word, meditate on it and wait on the Lord so you can learn how to apply it. Live to love with Jesus throughout each day, and you won’t ever be in danger of falling away from Christ. In fact, you’ll see the good word of God working in your life and experience the power of the Holy Spirit in all things.