Many of us have reduced the Christian faith down to two things: getting our sins forgiven and making it to heaven when we die. But what if God’s purpose for your life is far bigger than that? Hebrews 5 challenges us to examine what we are actually living for and whether our goals line up with God’s goals for us.
What Does “Telos” Mean and Why Does It Matter for Your Faith?
The Greek word telos means goal, end, purpose, fulfillment, or completion. It is what your life is pointed toward. We all have a telos, even if we never put it into words.
The problem is that what we say our goal is and what our life actually reflects can be two very different things. Tom Brady said his goal was to win the Super Bowl, but he kept playing long after winning one. His real goal was a legacy. In the same way, many of us say our goal is to follow Jesus, but the way we actually live points toward comfort, security, or simply surviving.
The hard question is this: does your telos match God’s telos?
Is Salvation Just About Forgiveness and Going to Heaven?
This is one of the most important questions a Christian can ask. The Greek word for salvation is sozo, and it means total restoration, total wholeness, total healing, and total rescuing. Think about the woman with the issue of blood. When she touched Jesus, she was not just partially helped. She was completely restored.
Biblical salvation is not simply about getting your sins forgiven so you can go to heaven one day. It is about being made fully alive and becoming the human God created you to be.
Dallas Willard described people who want grace without transformation as “vampire Christians.” He put it this way: “I’d like a little of your blood, please. But I don’t care to be your student or have your character. In fact, won’t you just excuse me while I get on with my life and I’ll see you in heaven.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this “cheap grace.” When faith becomes only an exit strategy, it stops being about coming alive and starts being about doing just enough to avoid hell.
What Does God Actually Want for You?
Paul gives us a clear picture in Galatians: “My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” – Galatians 4:19
God’s telos for you is not just that you avoid sin or secure a spot in heaven. His goal is that Christ would be fully formed within you. Every part of you. No area left untouched.
We often want salvation without surrender. We want grace without repentance. We want forgiveness without forgiving others. We want peace on our own terms. But discipleship is hard not because there is a long list of things to do. It is hard because it demands all of us.
What Does It Mean to Become “Sluggish” in Your Faith?
In Hebrews 5:11, the author stops mid-teaching and says something striking to the community: “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” – Hebrews 5:11
The author is not saying they are not smart enough to understand. He is saying they have stopped paying attention. They have moved from active listening to passive listening. Their faith has gone into cruise control.
This is one of the greatest temptations for people who have been walking with God for a long time. Not the big, obvious sin. The slow drift into spiritual sluggishness. The feeling that the big stuff is already taken care of, so there is no urgency to keep growing.
How many of us have moved into a passive spirituality where we think, “I’ve got salvation secured, I’ve got forgiveness covered, I’m good”? That drift is exactly what the author of Hebrews is confronting.
Does Time in Church Automatically Make You Mature?
Hebrews 5:12 says, “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.” – Hebrews 5:12
This verse makes something very clear: time does not automatically equal maturity. You can be a Christian for thirty or forty years and still be circling the same spiritual ground you were on in year one. On the other hand, someone newer in their faith can show more maturity than someone who has been attending church for decades.
The author uses the image of milk versus solid food. Milk is appropriate for an infant. But if you are still only taking in what you took in as a new believer, something has gone wrong. Solid food requires preparation, chewing, and digestion. It requires your active participation.
How Do You Actually Grow in Spiritual Maturity?
Hebrews 5:14 gives us the answer: “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 5:14
The key word is trained. We do not try our way into Christlikeness. We train our way there. The Greek word used here is connected to the word for gymnasium. It is not a one-time event. It is a past and continual practice. Not “I went to the gym” but “I have been going to the gym.”
Maturity does not usually happen in a single moment at an altar. It happens through a long obedience in the same direction, choice after choice, day after day.
What Spiritual Practices Actually Train You Toward Christlikeness?
Here are practices rooted in the life of Jesus Himself that train your internal system to see and respond more like Christ:
- Engaging with Scripture
- Prayer
- Fasting
- Generosity
- Solitude and silence
- Sabbath and rest
- Community
- Service
- Witness (telling others about Jesus)
But here is what is critical to understand. These practices are not about earning your way to God. They are about making yourself available to God. As Dallas Willard said, “Grace is not opposed to effort. Grace is opposed to earning.”
We read Scripture not because it makes us better people, but because it changes our internal reality enough that we can start to see Jesus clearly. We pray not to get God’s attention, but so that our eyes turn toward the God who is already active. We fast not as a penance, but to remove the noise of our flesh so we can recognize where God is at work.
The practices are not the destination. They are the means of connecting with God who wants to move in your life.
What Does “Going On Toward Perfection” Really Mean?
Hebrews 6:1 says, “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity.” – Hebrews 6:1
The word translated as “perfection” or “maturity” here comes from the same root as telos. It means completeness and wholeness. The goal is not a flawless performance. The goal is that Christ would be fully formed in you.
A foundation is necessary, but you cannot live in a foundation. The basics of faith, repentance, belief, and understanding are essential starting points. But God is calling you to build upward from there.
The small telos wants you to simply be saved from hell. The telos of Christ wants you to be healed for life. The small telos treats grace like an insurance policy. The telos of Christ treats grace like the power to grow.
Life Application
This week, identify one area of your spiritual life where you have become sluggish. Maybe it is prayer, Scripture reading, or simply your hunger for God. Do not try to overhaul everything at once. Pick one practice from the list above and commit to it consistently for the next seven days, not to earn anything from God, but to make yourself available to Him.
Ask yourself these questions as you go:
- What is my actual telos right now? What is my life truly pointed toward?
- Have I reduced my faith to just forgiveness and heaven, or am I pursuing the full transformation God wants for me?
- Am I actively training my spiritual life, or have I settled into passive, cruise-control Christianity?
- Is there an area of my life I have not yet surrendered to Jesus?
God is not after just enough of you to get you into heaven. He is after all of you. And the good news is that the desire to please God is itself what pleases God. If you feel that hunger fading, pray for it. Ask God to restore your thirst for Him. That prayer is exactly where growth begins.
