For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)

Growing As A Christian

When a baby is born, they are unable to digest solid food as their bodies have yet to develop the proper tools for consumption and digestion. God created the newborn without teeth and the intestinal requirements to eat food that an adult would eat. Milk is the nutrition of all babies. The mother’s milk has all the required nutrients to sustain life until the infant matures to handle solid food. As an adult with fully developed tools to chew, swallow, and digest food, there is no limitation to what a man can eat.

Spiritual growth is like the needs of an infant growing to maturity. When a person obeys the gospel of Jesus Christ, much is unknown. They are not expected to process the deeper meanings of the Word that someone who has examined the scriptures for many years possesses. Spiritual growth begins with the milk of the word, and then by reason of use and careful study of the Word, the heart starts to unfold the deeper meanings of those things, good and evil. Everyone begins with milk, and the Father wants everyone to grow to eat solid food.

An adult who cannot wean themselves from milk will become sick and die. A growing body demands greater calories and nutrients than milk can provide. Spiritual growth follows the same pattern as the physical body. To grow in Christ, the heart must move beyond the first principles of the word of God and grasp larger tracts of knowledge. The goal is not to attain all the knowledge contained in the Word because no man can understand all the knowledge kept within the pages of the Bible in ten lifetimes or more. God does expect His children to leave the milk of the word.

The problem faced by the first century Christians is the same problem the church faces today. There are too many saints who have never given up the milk of the word and are satisfied to partake only of milk and become unskilled in the word of righteousness. They are grown adults with the mind of a baby. This is contrary to the design of the spiritual body. If a man grows to adulthood and retains the mind of a baby, he is unable to function in the world. When the hearts of God’s people reside in the realm of spiritual milk, they cannot fight against the wiles of the devil. The end is apathy, ignorance, and destruction.

It takes time to learn the word. The desire must be to leave the milk for stronger food. Becoming skilled in the word of righteousness is not a scholarly development left only to the few who possess keen minds of wisdom. Secular education does not determine whether a man has the skill to know the word of God. When an open heart seeks to discern what is good and evil through the reading and study of the word of God, they will become skilled in what the Divine will of the Father must be for the individual. Anyone can do this if they are willing.

Growing as a Christian is the most fundamental part of the Christian’s life. Either a person is growing or they are dying. There is no middle ground. When someone has been a Christian for many years and still requires milk, they are unskilled and vulnerable. Those who daily seek the wisdom of God will find their lives full of the eternal wisdom established before time began. You can read and understand God’s mysteries if you take the time. Grow in Christ. Discern good and evil and long for the solid food of the word. It will fill your life with an incredible feast of good things.