As all new parents know, new born babies can only have milk in their diet. An important milestone is when they are about six or so months old, when their parents can introduce cooked cereals to their diet. Gradually after that they can add soft, mashed vegetables and fruit, and as they get older the toddler can start eating hard foods and meat as teeth come in. Much as the parents enjoy their steak dinner, they would never think to give that to their little baby! They cannot handle it. On the other hand, if their child is over a year old and still only drinking milk, and nothing solid, they know that there is something wrong. As children grow, they should be advancing on to eating more and different foods.
The same is true with a child’s advancing knowledge. Little toddlers start to learn words. Then they advance to learning colors and numbers, and their ABC’s. When they are five or six they start school and will learn more and more as they advance the grades. We know there is a problem if they aren’t able to learn more as they get older. As we read in our Scripture for today, we see that this holds true for the Christian, as well. As a believer gets spiritually older, they should also be advancing in what they are learning and taking in.
The writer of Hebrews knew he had to address a problem that he was seeing with the believers he was writing to, which is something that we see among some believers today, as well. There were believers among his audience who had been saved for a number of years. Instead of being knowledgeable about more advanced doctrines, they were only understanding the very basic Christian truths, such as the principles of salvation and repentance. The author found this astonishing! Here were Christians who had been saved for quite awhile, yet knew no more than that Jesus died on the Cross for their sins! That’s like an adult who still only drinks milk or baby cereal, or who still talks baby talk and barely knows his colors. He knew something was not right.
A good parent will advance their children to solid foods as they grow. They will help them learn and gain a desire for knowledge. This should be the same for Christians when they are born again. They start out with learning rudimentary truths, the “milk”, but then slowly are taught more and more from the Scriptures, the soft food and then on to meat. Spiritual milk is the very basics of Christian truth (vs. 12-14). These believers had been exposed to the Gospel for long enough that they should have been teaching it to others, but were, instead, babes, too infantile and unskilled to comprehend, let alone teach the truth of God.
Things are no different today. We can go into just about any church and find people who have been saved for years, even decades, but only know the very basics in Biblical doctrines and truths. These folks are still spiritual babies with no spiritual maturity, still taking in only baby formula and baby cereal. However they should be enjoying steak. These people should know enough of the Bible to be teaching others, but they have not even applied the basics to their own lives. All believers should grow in their knowledge of Bible doctrine, and then go on to teach others, passing on the Gospel message.
As we continue on in our Scripture, the author tells us to “leave the discussions of the elementary principles” (vs. 1). “Leaving” doesn’t mean to abandon these basic doctrines, the “milk”. These are very important for new Christians to learn. However they are the place to start, not to stop at. One does not drink only milk their whole life, or stay in only picture books. Like a baby, we learn to eat solid food, on up to meat. We move on to novels and nonfiction books. The writer urges the Christians to go on, learn more about God through more advanced Bible teachings.
What is on your spiritual menu for today? Just like with physical food, we want a well-balanced diet. We want to grow in our knowledge of God, eating the spiritual meat and vegetables in order to grow spiritually strong. We also do include some milk and softer foods, too, spiritually reminding ourselves of the truths we learned at the start. And when we are feeling down, we take in some spiritual comfort food, to carry us on. Let’s make sure we have a spiritually well-rounded diet.
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