Milk vs. Solid Food

“There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull . . . . 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.”                                                          Heb 5:11-6:3 (NLT)

Last time I wrote about our tendency to pick and choose what scriptures we pay attention to, and how we need to read the whole Bible, and to read a portion each day. A few days later, in my daily Bible reading, I came upon the passage above. It seems the writer of Hebrews was talking to just such a group of folks as I had in mind.

The first thing he says about them is that they have become “spiritually dull”.  The word in the New Testament Greek text means slow, sluggish or lazy. I get the picture of one who has had something like a big Thanksgiving dinner, and the tryptophan has kicked in, and they are just sitting back and taking everything in. it is one thing to get on spiritual overload, and sit back temporarily and digest everything you’ve taken in. it is quite another thing to come to the conclusion that you have arrived, and are in need of no further learning. Many of our brethren have come to this place!

I have observed that folks who read the Bible every day realize how much they still have to learn and are far less likely to get to this point of false satisfaction.

The writer of Hebrews compares his audience to infants who need a diet of milk. There is a place for the milk diet in the lives of children, even as there is in spiritual children. We start off with milk, which the writer here compares to the basic fundamentals of the faith: repentance and faith; baptism; resurrection; eternity. He even mentions the laying on of hands. We don’t do so much of this anymore, so maybe these folks were even a step or two ahead of us! The point is that there is a place for spiritual milk, particularly among young Christians. Peter tells us:

“Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”                             1 Peter 2:2-3 (NLT).

The point that the Hebrews writer is trying to make here is that there is a time to grow up and go on to solid food. So many folks seem to get to the milk stage (and sometimes hardly that far) and never progress to the solid food stage. There used to be a cartoon character that depicted how these folks look. His name was Baby Hughie. He was ridiculously large, and obviously physically mature, yet his much smaller parents dressed him as a baby and pushed him around in a baby carriage while he sucked on his baby bottle.

Hebrews says that these immature Christians that he was talking about were students but they had been believers for so long that they ought to be teachers by now. He told them in no uncertain terms that it was time for them to move on!

This is precisely the point that I am trying to make as well. We need to move on. We need to get into the depth of the Word, and of our relationship with our Lord.

One final thing I would point out; this moving on to maturity is not a spiritual condition that will just fall upon us. It is not a spiritual gift. It is the result of our own effort in striving for that maturity.  He says in verse 14; “Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” (Emphasis added).

I had the privilege to hear some stories about this at the weekly Gideon prayer breakfast this morning. I heard of two separate individuals that were led to the Lord by a friend and his wife. What stood out in these stories is that both of these individuals were engaging in daily Bible reading, and were experiencing remarkable growth in their spiritual lives.

The world is growing more and more hostile to the evangelical Christian witness. At the same time our lives are getting more and more hectic and rushed to the degree that we are getting less and less involved in our spiritual growth. It is becoming easier for us just to sit back in the pew and/or the Sunday School class, and let those designated preachers and teachers spoon-feed us the scriptures.

Times are approaching when this will not be adequate for the demands that our Christian faith will make upon us as we follow Christ on His terms in this troubled world.

We who are Bible-believing Christians put a lot of stock in whether we attend a Bible-believing church, or whether we sit under a Bible-believing preacher. It takes more than a Bible believing church or a Bible-believing clergy. It takes Bible reading Christian believers to make the kind of difference we will need to make in the days ahead.

Read a chapter (or more) every day!

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.