Solid Food

October 23

Jeremiah 42-43

Psalm 119:1-8

Proverbs 25:20-22

Hebrews 5

Solid Food

“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 5:12-14 NIV

As a new grandmother, I am having to relearn a lot of things about babies. I need to brush up on developmental milestones so I can remember what they are supposed to do at what age. Right now, Hadley drinks breastmilk, but I’m sure in the next few months she will begin eating soft foods and cereal and then eventually more solid foods. The same thing will happen with mobility. She will roll over and then crawl, and then she will begin to pull up and eventually walk. Communication will follow a similar progression. Right now, she cries to tell us she is hungry, something is hurting, or she just wants to be held. Then she will learn a few simple words and eventually she will be able to talk and communicate in complete sentences. The development of each child is a little different. Some learn to walk sooner than others. Some talk earlier and some children get potty trained earlier, but by four or five most children can eat solid food, walk unassisted, communicate effectively with their words, and are potty trained. There is a natural progression that takes place unless there are specific developmental problems. Paul is telling us that there should be the same natural progression of development in our spiritual lives.

When we accept Jesus into our hearts, we are like spiritual babies. We have much to learn and God begins the process of developing us into mature believers. We begin by learning the basics of the Christian faith. We learn what we believe and why. We develop the disciplines of the faith like reading our Bibles, praying, and worshipping. Our faith grows and we begin to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit in our daily lives. There is a natural progression in our development. As we mature in our faith, we gain understanding and wisdom. We can grasp concepts that previously we could not understand. If this development does not occur, there is a problem. Paul told the believers in the church in Corinth, “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly, mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.” I Corinthians 3:1-2 (NIV) Many believers never progress in their faith. They remain as spiritual infants. They go to church, but they don’t do anything else to grow spiritually. As a child gets older, any areas where they are not developing properly become evident. In our spiritual lives, we should experience noticeable progression in our development as well. If we are not growing from year to year, we need to evaluate our lives to determine if we are doing the things we need to do to build our faith so that we can digest deep spiritual truths and not have to be retaught the basics.