The foundation of life in God is righteousness. Righteousness is a legal term meaning right relationship with the King. To obtain righteousness is to receive forgiveness and restoration. Forgiveness is unto righteousness. The restoration of righteousness was through the vehicle of forgiveness. The whole point of forgiveness is to get us to righteousness.
In our look at Hebrews 5:11-14, verses 12-13 say,
“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.”
“Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.” Righteousness is the gateway to maturity. Without it you will never make it out of infancy.
Righteousness is not just a find sounding concept or an empty word. Righteousness is what we are. It’s what gives us access to the Father, seats us with Christ and makes us full of the Holy Spirit. The belief and experience of righteousness is what creates the desire to seek which causes us to grow in maturity. Seek means to learn, study, explore and understand. In Hebrews 5:11 the writer said that the people stopped trying to understand. They lost sight of the motivation to seek because they lost sight of righteousness and what that gives us access to.
There is a big difference between someone who lives in and experiences righteousness compared to someone who only knows righteousness on paper. If we go back to our basketball analogy we can see this truth at work.
A fan and a player are not the same thing. A fan may know all the stats. They may watch every game. They may study the fundamentals that should be in place to make a good team. They may research the best player to make the best team. But at the end of the day if the fan doesn’t apply the fundamentals in real life they are not a player. If you put a fan who’s only experience is on paper, on the court with a player who puts everything they learn into practice, the outcome would be predictable before the game started.
Maturity comes when you apply what you learn in order to grow in experience, understanding and ability. Knowledge is only as good as you can put it into action.