The third warning found in Hebrews, part 2

Are you ready to move on? Without abandoning what you know He has more to show you!
How old are you? How long have you been following Jesus? How have you grown more in knowledge of Him? How have you experienced Him more? In what ways are you now more obedient?
Recently I tried to explain something to a friend and their response was, ‘Oh thank you, now I see, no one has explained it so clearly to me before.’ I thought at last there was a breakthrough. Then a few months later this friend was back struggling with the same issue. It was as if I had never had the breakthrough conversation. It is possible to be locked into a position of thought or a revelation and never be able to move further.
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.” (Hebrews 6 v 1-3)
There is an old joke amongst ministers that when a new Pastor takes over the church from a Pastor who is their friend they might provoke them by saying, ‘I am going to lay a proper foundation’. The writer to this community of believers tells them that there will not be another laying of foundation. What does he mean?
Continuing the warning theme to the community of believers this leader/Pastor is challenging their lack of maturity.
Not that we discard the basic elementary teaching of our faith or we tick it off as something already learnt but it becomes the spring board to move on to further truth. There are elementary truths about Christ that are so important that must not be bypassed or forgotten. However, there is more!
The elementary truths are listed and in pairs:
Repentance and faith; cleansing rites and laying on of hands; and resurrection and judgment.
We understand the first and the third pair; but what is the second pair about?
‘Cleansing rites’ might suggest baptism but it is plural and doesn’t use the right word for baptism alone. It is probably a mixture of Jewish ritual washings and Gentile Christian practice that either symbolised their roots or moved on from them.
The Pastor wants them to move on from these things because whether they are the basic wonderful truths of our faith or some precious practices that are symbols of what we believe, it is possible to get so locked in to a revelation that we shut ourselves off from what God is wanting to say and do.
Are you open for new revelations? Are you open for God to speak to you? He may use Scripture? He may speak through dreams and visions? So many ways. It will happen ‘if God permits’ meaning not that He is reluctant or undecided but that it is in accordance to His will and for His glory. Today ask God for further revelations. There is more.