We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature-for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 HCSB
I cringe when someone gets baptized. This isn’t because I’m not happy with their decision to follow Christ. It’s because I know this is when the devil will do his best to stop them and stunt their growth. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we are baby Christians. We can grow and thrive, or we can experience no growth or very little.
The Hebrews were spiritually lazy. This resulted in them being very slow or sluggish to respond to gospel teaching. This produces a stagnation in spiritual advancement. It also produces an inability to process or understand any additional teaching. This can lead to a hardening of the heart where one tends to disregard any future or additional teaching.
So, as you can see, spiritual growth is necessary. By this time some of the Hebrews should have been teaching God’s word. Now this doesn’t mean they are actually preachers or teachers, but they should be teaching those around them. Not everyone is called to preach or teach Sunday School or lead Bible studies, but we are all called to make disciples of others (Matthew 28:19-10). We are all called to be witnesses for Christ. We can’t do this if we are not growing.
Ephesians 4:15 says, “But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head-Christ.” We are to be imitators of Christ (Ephesians 5:1). When we mimic the way Christ loved and treated others it helps us to grow to be more like Him.
In 1 Peter 2:2 it says we are like newborn infants and should long for the spiritual milk, that by it we may grow up into salvation. 2 Peter 3:18 says to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Just as babies need to be fed, we as baby Christians need to be fed. We need to spend time with other Christians who are more mature and can teach us and help us grow. We need to feast on God’s word. As we grow in righteousness, we can begin to feast on solid food which is described in our Scripture passage as the constant practice or training in discernment to distinguish good from evil.
When we accept Christ as our Savior, it should bring about positive change in our lives. We should imitate Christ and be a witness to teach others how to live a life that is pleasing to Him. We should live in a way that brings Him glory, honor and praise.
If we don’t grow, we are susceptible to false teachers. We don’t develop the wisdom that helps us discern between good and evil and may make poor choices.
We need to be careful of those who are unbelievers who can have a negative influence on us. Bad company corrupts good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33). If you are trying to save someone who doesn’t want to be saved, stop. We are told in Matthew 7:6 not to throw our pearls before swine.
If you are trying to witness to someone and they don’t appreciate the value of the gospel of Christ, move on. The gospel is too precious to waste on those who don’t appreciate it. If you don’t walk away, you run a greater risk of being dragged down to their level that of you pulling them up to yours.
As Christians, we are meant to grow. Are you growing in love and service? If not, you need to respond to the gospel. You need to understand God’s will for your life and live according to His purpose for you. Draw near to Him and He will gladly show you the way.
Have a great day!