Goodbye Baby Bottle
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:12-13)
The first time someone called me “a baby in Christ,” I had no idea what he meant. I went right back to my baby bottle and sucked diligently on it for years to come. Years later, I got a wake-up call. My life was a mess. I was broken. I was banging my silver spoons on my high chair, waving my pudgy little fists around, crying the high-pitched cry of a baby who can’t get past a temper tantrum, and spitting out my milk – verse by verse. I was a 100% Jewish believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who professed to “love the Lord” and refused to get past my baby bottle. My life was living proof, and anyone in my life could have attested to that.
Being born again spiritually by repenting of our sins, believing in Christ as Lord, receiving God’s forgiveness and turning to God and His ways is the BEGINNING of a new life in Christ throughout which we become conformed to Christ’s image in preparation for forever with God in heaven. Just as a baby needs to grow up and goes from milk to solid food, we who are born again spiritually need to grow up in the image of the Lord and to go from milk to meat. How? By committing our ways to God, studying the Bible, allowing God by His Spirit and Word to renew our minds, refine us, change us, prune us, perfect His love in us, and draw us into a personal, growing relationship with Him. As a child, I learned a song at school about Peter Pan including the words, “I won’t grow up. I’ll never grow up,” or some such words. That’s what I did when I was born again in Christ. For years, I did not study the Bible. When I finally did, I did not apply it to my life and let God chasten and change me. I just kept sucking on my baby bottle and whining away. I didn’t grow!
When at last I set down my baby bottle, made a full-fledged commitment to follow Christ, to diligently study His Word and apply it to my life, I began to grow – and grow, and grow. I am growing daily now, feeding on the meat of God’s Word and watching Him transform me and grow me in His image. The days I find myself sucking on the bottle again, the Lord in His love chastens me and reminds me to return to the meat of His Word!
Study and apply God’s Word daily, and watch God change your life!