06/11/2021
No More Sippy Cups – Become a Spiritual Adult
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.
─ Hebrews 5:12-14 ESV
No More Sippy Cups – Become a Spiritual Adult
Daniella held her grandbaby as he finished off a bottle. He squealed unhappily as he finished the last drop. His parents were trying to wean him from the bottle. As instructed, she gave the little one milk from a sippy cup. He took two sips, blinked disappointedly at her and refused to drink from the foreign device, even though the contents were the same.
That’s how we can be sometimes with our Heavenly Father. It’s human nature to resist change. But our spiritual nature is to desire to become more like Christ. As we grow in faith, God’s Word never changes, but the way he feeds us spiritually should change. We should be able to comprehend more deeply and feed ourselves independently as He nurtures us.
Hebrews 5:12 encourages us to grow up, to stop expecting milk when God knows we are ready for meat. He wants us to move from milk in a sippy cup to a steak at the supper table with God. Shallow, feel-good messages of Christianity do not equip us to live the life God has for us. We are to grow up, become strong in faith and lead others by the testimony of our faith.
Today’s One Thing
One way to encourage others to grow in their faith is to share your story with them. Think about the hardest thing you’ve ever had to endure and how God brought you through it. Ask God who you could encourage with that story. Also ask Him to give you an opportunity to share it at the exact moment the person is ready to hear it and receive it in a way that will help them.