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Babe or Full Age?

by Sheila Dougal  
12/31/2006 / Devotionals

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. Hebrews 5:12 NKJV



Where am I spiritually? Am I a babe, still only able to handle milk to grow, or am I an older kid who could never grow strong on just milk? Spiritual milk, Paul goes on to describe in Hebrews 6, is the basic principles of life in Christ: repentance of dead works and confidence in God's provision, the teachings of baptism, laying hands on each other, the resurrection of the dead and the judgment of God that's coming. Do I know these things; am I skilled in understanding them? I should be after all these years of walking with Him. If I am, then I will move on to completion in Christ and teach others the milk, and feed others the meat?

If I am still lacking in these basic understandings, it's no shame if I'm a babe, if I'm new in Christ. Like in 1 Peter 2:2 I should crave and grow by feeding on this simple milk as a babe. If I understand these things, then I should move onto the meat, but if I'm still struggling with envy, strife and dividing relationships, then as Paul wrote in 1 Cor.3, I'm still a carnal babe in Christ.

I, we, would do good to grow properly in Christ this coming New Year by examining ourselves to see where we're at. If we're still babes, new to the things of Christ then we should just feed continually on the basic principles of life in Him: confessing our sins, believing in God's salvation by faith, understanding the practice of baptism and laying hands on each other in prayer, understanding that we will be raised from the dead and that there will come a judgment.

If we've been professing this simple faith in Christ for a few years and we are still struggling with envying others, arguing with people, and dividing relationships then though we may know a lot, we are still carnal babes, and we should get real with ourselves and God, and recognize our state and give up all the deep studies of the meat of the Word and go back to studying and feeding on these basic things until the evidence that we are no longer babes is the absence of these carnal practices. If by God's grace we are free of these carnal ways, and we are secure in the basic understandings of God's Way through Jesus, then we should step out, move on, take a plunge, and dive into feeding our spirit's the meat of the Word, that we might be skilled workmen in the use of the weapons of our warfare (which are not carnal but spiritual 2 Tim.2:15, 2 Cor.10:4) and begin to serve others in teaching them.

See this is where I am just beginning to get it, as I grow in Christ, and abandon carnality for spirituality, I find that I'm not less dependent on the grace of God because I am now growing on meat and not just milk. I'm more dependent! I need more now, not less. If I don't have meat, I'm gonna shrivel up and wimp out, and I'm not the only one who will fail. As a mature believer, Paul says in this section of Hebrews, I'm to be a teacher, not just requiring to be taught. Now as one who feeds on meat, if God doesn't supply my meat, I'll have no milk to feed my kids, no strength to teach them. I'll fail and so will they and the reputation of God's name in my life will be more publicly dishonored. So should I be afraid and not go on to maturity, what if I fail, what if my kids fail because of me, what if those watching get a wrong understanding of God because I whimped out? No. Just as God was faithful to nurse me to maturity, He's faithful to feed me meat and my dependence on His grace is even greater!

See, being a mature daughter of God isn't knowing that I can do more and more on my own, it's being trained by my Daddy to do great things I could never do without His power. Who's more dependent, the baby in the arms of her mother, or the front lines warrior facing enemies greater than he? I say both are just as dependent, only the consequences and the impact of their dependency are different. If the baby isn't fed, he may not even be fully aware of the consequences and though he may die, it'll be just him who is lost. But if the warrior isn't given strength by the weapons, the commander, and the methods of his warfare then he will see the greatness of the consequences with fearful understanding and the entire nation he fights for is at risk of falling.

Without our great and mighty God, who is alive and faithful, we would be crazy to get out there spiritually and stand in the enemies face confident of God's readiness and sureness of His deliverance. But because our God is alive, faithful and mighty over all, we of all people should move on to maturity, and fearlessness of man or our enemy and eat meat, and gain strength and teach others God's word.

Sheila Dougal is a 32 year old wife and mother living in Goodyear, Arizona with her husband James and their two sons. She enjoys serving in the women's and children's ministries at her local church, and writing on her website www.wifeofvalor.com.

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