Milk or Meat

July 24

2 Chronicles 29-30

Psalm 83:13-18

Proverbs 18:22-24

I Corinthians 3

Milk or Meat

“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.  And even now you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh.”  I Corinthians 3:1-3 ESV

New Christians are often referred to as “baby Christians.”  It has very little to do with the age of the person or the length of time that one has been a believer, but rather it refers to their maturity.  There are people who have been Christians for a very long time who have not matured in their faith and would still be considered “baby Christians.”  There are also people who have not walked with the Lord very long who have grown a lot in their faith and are able to handle more difficult spiritual truths.  When a baby is born, it does not have teeth and cannot chew up solid food, so it has to get all its nutrition from milk.  As it gets older, it can eat soft baby food and eventually it can chew and swallow enough that it is able to eat solid foods.  As believers we must go through this same process.  When we first become a Christian, we need to learn the basics so that we have a good foundation to build on.  As we grow in our faith, we can learn more and more. Yesterday we discussed how we receive the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus into our hearts.  Because He is living in us, He can lead and guide us, teach us, and give us discernment.  He also helps us comprehend deep spiritual truths, but this does not happen automatically.  We have a responsibility as believers to seek Him and to study His Word so that we can grow. 

This happens in a lot of different ways.  Being a part of a solid church where we hear biblically based sermons each week is a good place to start, but that cannot be all we do.  We need to participate in Bible studies, small groups, Sunday School, and other organized programs that allow us to ask questions and be involved in discussions that will challenge us and make us want to delve deeper into God’s Word.  And we need to spend time studying the Bible on our own asking the Holy Spirit to help us understand what we are learning.  There are countless resources online where we can find sermons, podcasts and videos that help us grow and learn.  While we will never reach complete spiritual maturity in this life, there should be steady growth.  We should see a difference year to year.   If we are content to continue being spoon fed baby food instead of eating a nice thick steak, there is a problem, and it is time to evaluate where we are spiritually and figure out what we need to do to develop and mature.  Growth doesn’t happen accidentally.  It happens when we are intentional and persistent in our pursuit of Him.  Hebrew 5:14 says, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (ESV) Jeremiah 29:13 tells us, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” (ESV)