2010 – December 23 – Of Milk and Meat

Study from God’s Word… Hebrews, Chapters 1 – 6: 12 … Passage for Reflection: Hebrews 5: 12 … NIV In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

My Journal for Today: Reading, studying, and meditating on the letter, by an unknown author, directed to all believers, but focused on Hebrew Christians, can be a tough, perplexing read for the immature disciple of Christ. However, for the mature, committed, and steadfast Christian, Hebrews is very straight forward and actually quite encouraging study. So, reading this book can be a measure of our maturity in the Christian faith continuum.

If you read Hebrews and you have a lot of trouble grasping its theology, its instructions, and its exhortations, you are likely, given the word picture of today’s highlight text, a babe in the faith, feeding on the milk given to little ones who cannot yet take in the meat God, the Holy Spirit, has for grown-ups in the faith. But on the other hand, if, in reading Hebrews, you are saying “Right on!” to what the author is writing; and you feel encouraged and uplifted in your faith by the teachings in this letter, you can take heart that you are more likely well along and growing in your faith, using the gifts that God has given you for His glory, and doing battle effectively against the enemies of our spirit, … Satan, the world, and the flesh.

Fellow reader, would you please allow me a bit of personal testimony? There was a time, years ago, when I read Hebrews; and it seemed very distant and almost in code. And at that time, in the infancy of my faith walk, the teachings of this Hebrew author just flew over my head. But now, when I read this epistle, directed to Christians (and not only Jews, but me too), I’m not only edified and enlightened by its contents, but I’m also encouraged and empowered by what God, the Holy Spirit, as it’s Author, is saying to and for me.

That’s not bragging, my dear one. It’s simply a realization that I’ve become a meat-eater as a Christian; and I not threatened when the Author of Hebrews warns Christians who fall away from the faith as being either lost babes who cannot grow in the faith or recalcitrant non-believers who have deluded themselves to think that they are really born-again, when in point of fact, as a southern friend of mine once said, “… they are as lost as a ball in high weeds!”

So, as you read the book of Hebrews, use it as a thermometer of the temperature of your faith. If you read this anointed letter and you just don’t get its message or you do not feel turned-on by its content, you are either not IN CHRIST and desperately need Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you are still a babe in the faith who needs some help, by a more mature mentor or discipler, who can help you go from feeding on milk of God’s truth to being able to take in the meat of the faith.

And I will pray below that you join me, guided by God’s Spirit, to be able to take in some of the great and juicy cuts of meat found in God’s truth, … devouring it, and becoming stronger and stronger in your faith.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I pray that any who read here are feeding on the meat of Your Word, gleaning the nourishment it offers for our growth and completion in You. Amen

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PS – Blogger’s Note: To any who read this: … Please take note of what I’ve just written today. And please take this the right way. What I just wrote today is way above me. I just wrote that, without any editing, very rapidly, in one sitting; and I’m not smart enough to write about Godly matters with the degree of rapidity or clarity exhibited above. What I’m saying is, … occasionally, God answers my daily prayer (before every devotional) to reveal His truths to me and to lift me up with my reading/study of His word with a resounding “YES!” And today was one of those days. So, I praise God for what He gave me to write today; because it’s clearly is way above my ability to journal in this way; and so I exhort you to read it with a bit more than just a grain of salt taking away what God may have for you. … Thanks for this little extra note of understanding. … Bill B