“For 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, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” – Hebrews 5:12-14
Surely this isn’t true of you! Nonetheless, it’s a helpful reminder that for every follower of Jesus, there’s an expectation to engage the mind and grow in the knowledge and understanding of the faith, the Bible, and the doctrines we believe. Not every Christian will excel or enjoy such studies equally, but every Christian can and should engage their mind throughout their entire life learn ever more about what the Bible teaches and Christ commands.
We aren’t merely called to love God with all our heart and soul. We’re also called to love Him with all our mind. Christianity is meant to be a thoughtful, intelligent, and discerning faith. Emotion and experience are wonderful, but so is learning and knowledge. That means we should not only be interested in asking hard questions, but in doing the hard work to read, study, and understand the answers that have been articulated across twenty centuries.
Too many Christians are content to let leaders and teachers do all the thinking and studying. That isn’t how it’s supposed to be! Every Christian is called to learn continuously and become more discerning between good and evil. This is particularly important in our topsy-turvy world that increasingly confuses and reverses them.
You may be correct that you aren’t a scholar, but that doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t expect you to engage your mind, study your Bible, and participate in every learning opportunity you can!