You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:12b-14
After spending significant time writing about Jesus, our merciful and faithful High Priest, the writer of Hebrews turns to give his readers a good old fashioned wallop over the head.
Here is King Jesus who is the “radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature” who even “upholds the universe by the word of His power.” (Hebrews 1:3) He rose from the dead! He lived a perfect, sinless life on earth for thirty-three years! He is kind of a big deal! And He wants His creation to know Him and experience sweet fellowship with Him. Here is the Word of Righteousness that the Hebrew people ultimately are unskilled in knowing and understanding.
Why, O, why settle for milk when you can go out and find meat? Why settle for a sippy cup when you can eat a bacon-wrapped filet with garlic mashed potatoes? Obviously, it is preposterous (and hilarious) to think that any of us would be willing to go back to baby formula now that we have fully-developed teeth and have tasted the melt-in-your-mouth goodness of “grown up” food.
But, the writer of Hebrews isn’t talking about food. He’s talking about spiritual things, which is pretty normal in the Bible.
If we laugh at the thought of needing our mom to feed us after we’re grown, why do we walk around as spiritual infants who need constant protection and guidance because we’ve failed to start obtaining our own food? It is the same exact thing! In fact, it is worse! I shudder to think of the evil that is present in this world. I shudder even more to think that there are so many people who are living in this darkness who have no ability to nourish themselves with the Word of God because they’ve never sought spiritual food apart from a Sunday church service or a couple of short prayers at dinner. These things are good, but they won’t keep you from getting trampled by all of the busyness and temptations of this world.
Please don’t misunderstand. I am not saying that we are ultimately in control of obtaining spiritual food. God provides all that we need. However, if we are not seeking the nourishment that only God provides, then we will be stunted Christians who never reach their full potential in Christ. God will finish the work He started, but we should be eager to know Christ more and more every day. This only happens by spending time in the Word with Jesus. As our hearts grow fonder of our Lord, we enjoy better and better nourishment, which equips us to face even greater suffering, which God has granted to us for the sake of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:29).
And when you come to God and let Him speak through His Word, He doesn’t demand that you know what you are doing. He just wants faithfulness. As you are faithful, God will convict and correct and encourage and refresh your soul. You’ll find through your faithfulness that you are getting to know He who is faithful and unchanging in that faithfulness. When you begin savoring that reality, your joy will increase and your face will shine with the glory of Christ.
All of that simply because you set out to read the Bible and get to know God! What a great God!
Take a moment to consider what God’s Word promises. If you have never read Psalm 19, I encourage you to read it and marvel at your Creator.
God’s Word revives the soul, makes wise the simple, causes the heart to rejoice, enlightens the eyes, and is just plain awesome! Ok, so that last one isn’t written in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true! God tells us that we should cherish His Word more than gold and that when we enjoy His Word that it is sweeter than honey. He promises that there is great reward in knowing and keeping His Word in our hearts and following His commands.
The greatest reward is that we will come to know Jesus who shed His blood and died for vile sinners like you and me who openly rebelled against Him. We will come to know that He loves us beyond our comprehension. We will come to know that He is passionate about and jealous for us. And we will know that He is preparing a place for us in eternity where we will see Him face to face and be overwhelmed by His goodness.
Milk drinkers: Given what you now know, can you still settle for milk?
Steak eaters: Can you believe how good God is to reveal Himself to you through His Word?!
For the glory of Christ.
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