Solid food for growth

You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. Hebrews 5:13-14 NLT

From the text, the writer of the book of Hebrews gets critical in pointing out the lack of growth to supposed Christians who claimed to be in the faith for so many years. This only shows that old age doesn’t mean maturity in spiritual life. Remaining in spiritual infancy will result to lack of motivation to live a godly life. It is tragic to see believers not growing in their walk with God. We cannot stay status quo in our commitment to spiritual growth for we will end up regressing. When we regress in our faith, we lack power in living out the life that God gave us. We also do not have the desire to live up to God’s expectation of teaching or sharing others our faith. Not only that we lose opportunities to take part in expanding the Kingdom of God, we end up not knowing “how to do what is right.” So that stagnation in our spiritual life will be prevented, we must desire to eat solid food. We need to move beyond drinking milk and move to eating the solid meat of God’s Word. In this way, we will be guided in living a life that pleases and glorifies God. We start to reflect God’s righteousness bestowed upon us when we came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We need to grow knowing why we believe what we believe. Our understanding of doctrinal matters from God’s Word will help us on how we live our Christians life. We need to grow increasing in capacity in understanding the will of God found in His Word. This is how we will be prevented from giving in to temptations. Not only that we learn how to exercise mature judgment, but our lives become a blessing to those around us. We provide positive influence to those whom God brings our way. The desire to mature in faith should be a natural motivation for those who love God and find joy living for His glory. Let us feast in the solid food of God’s Word and abandon the childish ways. “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:11-12).

Blessings,