His Encouragement: Milk or Solid Food?

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Welcome! Welcome, dearest friends, to His Encouragement: Biblical Inspiration for Your Thursday. Every week, I join a few blogging friends to bring you a Bible passage and a little hope-filled discussion. We pray that these devotionals help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you.

Today’s Scripture

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

It is not easy being a parent. Anyone who says otherwise is looking back with rose-colored glasses and has forgotten the hard times.

I have found that the newborn stage is the hardest for me. This tiny, fragile, precious little baby needs constant attention and care. He or she is unable to communicate their needs except by crying. This can be difficult for sleep-deprived parents – even veteran parents – to interpret correctly every time.

But the newborn stage does not last forever. Eventually, he or she moves into the adorable baby phase. They are a tad more interesting (in my opinion) because now they coo, laugh, wiggle fingers, kick out feet, push up on their bellies, etc. This gives way to crawling and then walking.

The toddler age is currently my favorite. They get better at walking, running, and climbing. They start saying words, then sentences, then full-blown conversations. One day you are teaching them how to say the word “one”. You blink and suddenly they are counting to ten on their own and singing Sabbath School songs.

There are still challenges, but they are new and different from before. Maybe they are learning to share, not hit others or throw temper tantrums. They are potty training and discovering new words to express big emotions. It is possible that they are covered in small boo-boos and bruises from active play. You use positive re-enforcement and give them lots of hugs and cuddles.

But being a parent and caring for these precious little ones is worth all of the hardship and challenges.

Growing in Christ

Now that I have two toddlers and a newborn, I can understand and relate to the writer of the book of Hebrews more clearly. Before children, the passage in Hebrews 5:12-14 came across to me as a rather harsh rebuke or correction.

After all, he was comparing the believers to little children, unable to eat solid food yet and so they are being sustained on milk.

Even though it seemed condescending to my younger self, I realize now that the words are not as harsh as I once thought. In fact, it is a pretty accurate depiction of us as we are growing in Christ.

Whether we are brand new to the faith or have been believers all our lives, the duration of our relationship with Christ does not really matter. What matters is the depth of our relationship.

Where is your relationship right now?

Some of us may have known Jesus for decades but are stuck in the “newborn” phase: surviving off the basic but crucial “milk” of the Gospel, not quite sure how to communicate except by crying out to Him in our times of need.

Others of us might be in the toddler phase of our faith: we are eagerly devouring as much of God’s Word as we can, our understanding and knowledge of the Lord is growing rapidly, and we ask a lot of “why” questions.

There may be a few teenage-phased Christians among us, too, who are searching for meaning, purpose, and identity in Christ in a new way. This is usually a time of trials and some may even experience confusion and doubts.

And then there are others who have made it through that phase and into the maturity of a rock-solid, yet intimately personal, relationship with Christ.

Let the Lord nurture you

I don’t know where you are on this gradual journey of faith, but the Lord does and He is with you through all the ups and downs, highs and lows.

Let Him lead and guide you at His pace, and you will discover that He is weaning you from the basic “milk” of the Gospel and onto some of the heartier, meatier truths of His love and Word at the right time for you.

Friend, may you always be growing in Christ!

What verse has touched your heart this week? Share in the comments below!

Be sure to also visit my fellow bloggers and read their encouragement for your Thursday as well:

• Trisha of Joy of Reading
• Nicole of The Christian Fiction Girl
• Jessica of A Baker’s Perspective
• Becca of The Becca Files
• Gina of Stories by Gina
• Rev. Rebecca Writes

Hi there, blogger. Would you like to join us in sharing encouragement from the Word of God every Thursday? Don’t be shy! Contact Trisha or Nicole today!

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