When it comes to being hungry and thirsty for the most part we have become experts on filling our bellies and tantalizing our taste buds, but what about our inner man?
Do we spend as much thought, time, and effort feeding our inner man as
we do our flesh?
I have heard people who
have been Christians for years say that they feel that they are not being fed
on Sunday mornings. I have also heard from others talk about how their pastor
is so eloquent with his words, they will often add that they feel they are
being fed at church on Sunday mornings and are satisfied.
I have always felt troubled
by both of these lines of thought.
It is true that we are to come together
for the teaching and preaching of God’s word but this is not to be all of God’s
leading, guiding, and providing that we should receive for the week and it is
not the only reason we gather together. We also gather together to encourage
each other, pray for others and share our requests, as well as to challenge
each other in the faith as iron sharpens iron.
The Christians who are only concerned
about the presentation of the Sunday morning message act like they believe that
the pastor or church Leaders are the only ones that can feed them, and Sunday
morning is the only time that they can, “Be fed”.
The question is, “why are
they not getting fed everyday as they spend time in prayer and Bible study with
the Lord, abiding in Him and Him in us?”
Let me put it this way. Let’s look for
a second at the Christian who says he or she is fed at Sunday morning worship
and feels satisfied. In this example Sunday morning is like the person who eats
at the local buffet on Sundays. The person comes in, eats all that they can
handle, and goes home.
How long will that meal last?
If it lasted for a whole day would that
be enough to keep you fed for the whole week?
Would you go a whole week without
eating in hopes that there would be a good meal on Sunday at your favorite
restaurant?
What kind of physical shape would you
be in if you spent years only eating once a week?
What kind of Spiritual shape do
you think you would be in?
But I,
brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the
flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were
not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, (1Co 3:1-2)
The Corinthians should have been
spiritual people but they were not. They still needed to be fed milk like
infants because they were not ready.
This passage talks about milk for
infants, what is this milk?
My baby girl Hannah
was absolutely dependent on her mother’s milk when she was first born. Without
it she would have died and she needed to have it often. When she was hungry she
would cry out to be fed. She knew that she needed her mother’s milk and was
always more than willing to let her mother know she was hungry. At 6 months old
she started to eat baby food and drink juice. She still needed her mother’s
milk but only a few times a day. The rest of the time she started to eat food.
As she grew she depended on her mother’s milk less and less and now she is able
to eat her food for herself.
New Born Christians
need to be fed the milk of the gospel by more mature Christians. The knowledge
of how God redeemed them from sin, their need for the Word of God, prayer, the
empowering of the inner man by the Holy Spirit, The need to abide in Christ and
He in them. We call this discipleship though sadly we do not see this occurring
as often as we use to.
As soon as a new
believer learns this truth and starts to go to the Word of God and pray for the
Holy Spirit to feed them they begin to mature. They are able to move up to baby
food, and eventually to solid foods, they will begin to encounter situations
that challenge them to place their trust in God more and more completely. As
they mature they become better able to teach others, not just the Word of God,
but the truths of God’s word that they have seen at work in their own lives as
the Holy Spirit has taken from God and given to them.
Sadly this is not the
case of many of the church members today. They have attended Sunday morning
after Sunday morning skimming along on milk year in and year out and still are
unable to eat the solid food of God.
For
though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach
you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. 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.(Heb 5:12-14)
Are you skilled in the word of
righteousness?
Are
you having your powers of discernment trained by constant practice to
distinguish good from evil?
Are you being
transformed by the renewing of your mind as you are being taught the Word of
God by His Holy Spirit?
Have
you matured to the point that it is time to start teaching instead of needing
to be taught again, but are not yet teaching? If so what is holding you back?
The wonderful thing about
God is every day is a fresh start with Him. His mercies are new every morning.
If you know what God is leading you to do, all you need to do is obey.
If you are not yet mature enough
to eat the solid foods of God I encourage you to:
Stop being hateful! Quit trying
to fool people, and start being sincere. Don't be jealous or say cruel things
about others. Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual
milk that will help you grow and be saved. (1Pe 2:1-2)
May God Bless you and draw you ever
more closer to Him each day!
God Bless,
David Ingram
New Day Christian Ministry
Isa. 43:18-21
www.newdaycm.org
