Oct 22, 2018
Anyone who lives on
milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about
righteousness. Heb 5:13
Continuing to sin is
a sign of infancy... don’t stay childish.
Grow up and hunger for the meat of God.
One summer, my parents took us on a very long trip from
central Ohio to Virginia to spend time with my Uncle Tom & Aunt Elaine’s
family. Bits and pieces of the trip come
back to me from time to time, but there is one memory I clearly recall ALL the
time. It was the night Uncle Tom took us
all out for dinner at the Country Club they were members of. We didn’t get to order a hamburger that
night. It wasn’t on the menu. My parents had my brother and I split a
steak. I remember clearly how much
different steak was from hamburger --- WOW !!!
It was like an explosion of taste in my mouth! Hamburgers were no longer the favored meat
after that meal… steak was now king!
Even today, I love a good steak.
There is a dividing line in life called puberty. It’s a point in life when everything starts
to change drastically. The body starts
maturing into an adult, voices change pitch, hair starts growing, our minds
embrace abstract thought, and morality gets tested. Throughout the ages, it is the time when
children are turned into adults, and take on new responsibilities. It’s like moving from hamburger to steak.
While our bodies are programmed to “kick in” at a certain
age, our spirits depend on us to flip the switch. Even though thinking might change from
concrete to abstract thoughts, our behaviors can stay locked into the 1st
gear of childhood. (Certainly, all of us
have seen 40-year-olds still act like they are still 18, or at least TRY to act
18 again.) And if we are honest, there
are probably seasons in our own life where we wanted to throw out the
responsibilities of adulthood, and live like a teenager.
The Hebrew preacher uses that picture to describe the deadly
impact living as spiritual infants can have.
It’s okay to be an infant when we are first born (or even first born
again), but to STAY that way is unhealthy and inappropriate. Just as awkward as having a teenager be
nursed by his mother is having a Christian still living like an infant in
obedience. Spiritual infancy is a SHORT
SEASON… we must all grow up into righteousness and faithfulness.
You can’t understand the true depths of sin, grace, mercy,
forgiveness and other great lessons without growing up in your faith. But many people prefer to be given the milk
of salvation and stay an infant, expecting God to bless them and take care of
feeding them from the bottle while they keep living in ignorance. Jesus didn’t die on the cross to give us a
free license, He died to give us access to holiness.
Hebrews instructs us to stop living like infants and grow
up. To Grow is to better Know … so dig into the rich doctrines of the
Scriptures, and discover how amazing God’s Word really is. You will find amazing pictures of God’s
Sovereignty and Love, see His signs of Mercy and His patience with people, and
even get a bigger picture of how GREAT His Love for you and I really is. Don’t be satisfied with the baby bottle,
discover the tasty pleasure of the steak of His Word.
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