Gerber has a baby food flavor called Chicken and Gravy. It’s essentially liquid chicken with the consistency of apple sauce. Doesn’t that sound delicious?
Imagine for a second that your friends invited you over for dinner and to watch the game. You walk in and see some glasses of warm milk on the counter and jars of Gerber Chicken and Gravy. It sounds like a party, doesn’t it? Or maybe it sounds more like the end of a friendship? Either way, it doesn’t sound good.
As ridiculous as it might seem to eat baby food and drink warm milk after the age of one, it’s equally absurd to live our entire lives on spiritual baby food. Yet, that’s what many are doing.
The apostle Paul struggled with this same issue while ministering to the churches in the first century.
He said, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 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 5:11-14)
God never intended you to stay a spiritual baby. Instead, he wants you to grow. “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!” (2 Peter 3:18) Your ability to distinguish good from evil depends on it.
Here are two key areas all Christians need to grow in if they want to get past the baby food stage.
Grow in the knowledge of God’s word.
People know a lot of meaningless information. But do you know the word of God? Your knowledge of God’s word is essential if you’re going to get to the meat stage of your spiritual growth.
Proverbs 4:22 says that the words in scripture are “life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.”Growing in your knowledge of God’s word has physical and spiritual benefits.
That’s why you should “do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
Grow in godliness.
One of the best ways to understand godliness is to understand what it is not.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us, “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
Godliness is simply demonstrating your faith in Jesus by becoming more like him and living and acting according to his word.
I’m guessing you’ve exercised at some point or had to train at work. Right? Now it’s time to train in godliness.
1 Timothy 4:8 says that “physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
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