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should be brighter than it was before.
    This verse in Proverbs 4 concludes with this phrase: until the full day . That is our destination—the height of noonday. God is not content that we would stop at less than the full brightness of the noonday sun. The dawn is our beginning point. The path is the way of progress. The light gets brighter and brighter. But no stopping place on the path is permitted until we reach the full day.
    Advancing toward Maturity
    Do you remember the biggest mistake that the Hebrews made? Like their forefathers they had become lazy and failed to listen for God’s voice. That is why this particular Let us is so appropriate. The Hebrews were trusting their special privileges and resting in them; they had become lazy. They were just taking their status for granted. Look again at what the writer says to them:
    We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
    Hebrews 5:11–14 NIV 1984
    The writer is saying here—and he is saying it pretty bluntly—“You’re just spiritual infants. But you have no right to be infants at this stage in your Christian progress. You have had so many opportunities and so many years—you should have advanced to maturity by now.”
    In this same passage, the writer also explains the only way to advance to maturity. He says, “Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguishgood from evil.” According to that example, advancing to maturity along that path of righteousness, in which the light grows brighter day by day, comes in actual practice by constant use. It comes by training ourselves. It is not something we can take for granted or something that just happens automatically. It requires our application. That is why the second key is, “Let us be diligent.” By constant use, we must train ourselves to distinguish good from evil if we are going to move forward in God.
    It grieves me when I see large groups of Christians who seem to be absolutely unable to distinguish between what is truly spiritual, truly scriptural, and that which is just a fleshly presentation. They do not see that something with simply soulish appeal has no real lasting effect—and often no real basis in Scripture.
    Unfortunately, multitudes of Christians are apparently taken in regularly by that kind of soulishness. They have not yet learned to distinguish good from evil. The remedy is to train ourselves by constant use and by practice. The only unfortunate alternative to such practice is arrested spiritual development—remaining in the condition of infants when we should be mature.
    Five Ministries
    God has made a special provision for attaining to spiritual maturity, and we need to know about it. It is stated in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
    It was he [the risen, ascended Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
    Ephesians 4:11–13 NIV 1984
    Five main ministries are mentioned here: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Starting with verse 12, we see the purpose of these ministries: “To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
    Please notice those two purposes. First, that God’s people may be prepared for works of service. God’s people