Milk to Meat
In a world desperate for quick and convenient, a quick feel good moment is all we desire. But spiritual maturity and growth in our relationship with Christ and who He created us to be comes with moving beyond milk and to meat. Milk is quick. It is tasty, refreshing, and slides right down with no work from us. Immediate gratification. That is necessary to start, but as we grow we will only continue to grow if we begin to be fed not with milk, but meat. Taking time to chew on the word. Making an effort to put in some work for our nourishment, partnering with Christ rather than merely receiving. This is our spiritual training, not towards independence but into a new kind of dependence.
Hebrews 5:14 New Living Translation (NLT)
14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong
1 Timothy 4:8 New Living Translation (NLT)
8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”
Matthew 7:14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it
Hebrews 6:1 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds[a] and placing our faith in God.
Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have laid hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:15-16 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 16But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.
1 Corinthians 14:20 New Living Translation (NLT)
20 Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying
Ephesians 4:14 New Living Translation (NLT)
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth