Are You Ready for Solid Food?
Growing in Faith & Character IS the Christian Life
New Christians are often called “Baby” Christians. Frankly, it’s not the length of time a person has been a Christian that defines being a “baby” but rather their maturity. As a child’s food changes as they grow, so does the spiritual food a Christian eats as they grow in the faith.
Baby Christians Are to THIRST for Spiritual Milk
- To Grow in grace/understanding of our Master/Savior, Jesus Christ.
- The glory belongs to him both now & to eternity. (2 Peter 3:18).
- This is not an option, it is a command: grow up in spiritual faith.
In a Moment, Christ took over as Savior & Adopted You in God’s Family by the Spirit
A newborn baby needs milk to grow & develop; a baby Christian needs “spiritual food for growth.” (1 Peter 2:2-3
“We have much to say, but it is hard to make it clear to you becauseyou 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 of righteousness.Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”Hebrews 5:11
Meat, the Solid Food of the Word
Solid food requires we be mature to digest it. The Christian must be teachable & grow to discern between right/wrong or good/evil.
Newborn Infants Long for Mother’s Pure Milk.
A baby latches to his mother’s breast, very dependent for all that’s needed to grow up. YOU too need to latch on to God’s milk & honey (the Word)to grow. Like newborn infants, we are long for pure spiritual milk, that we may grow up into our salvation. If indeed we have tasted that the Lord is good. By spending time reading the Word, our soul connects deeply with the God of the New Testament; this is a what the Christian life is all about. Walking and growing in God everyday.
As a baby grows, He Begins to Include Solid Foods.
Paul saw problems with the Corinthian believers; they hadn’t grown in faith. Because of that, he could only give them “milk” because they were not ready to eat and digest solid food. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 “But for right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I’ll nurse you since you don’t seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a baby at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? When one of you says, “I’m on Paul’s side,” and another says, “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally infantile?”
Human & Spiritual Babies Mature in the Same Way – With Food.
Parents feed their babies and growth is natural. But thing is, a baby Christian will only grow as much as he purposefully reads, obeys and applies the Word of God.
A Christian’s diet consists of the Word of God!
So many Christians are still babies & can’t understand the richness of Word of God. God gave us everything we need to grow in knowledge of Him. Based on the deeper teachings of Christ, we see that the “solid food” mentioned pertains to our growth in Him.
We are to live a life that is not worldly or carnal.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 tells us,“Brothers, I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to worldly, babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with solid food. For to this day you were not able to endure it. Nor are you able now, for you are still worldly. Since there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not worldly and behaving as mere men?”
Peter says the unlearned & unstable twist Paul’s teachings to their own destruction, and unless we are grounded on the right foundations in Christ, we might end up the same. (2 Peter 3:17-18)
Character Traits We Need for Maturity to Happen – Confirming One’s Calling and Election
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling & election. If you do these things, you will never stumble and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:3-11
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