In Hebrews 5:11-14 we read about retarded spiritual growth in
believers. "Concerning this we have much to say which is hard to
explain, since you have become dull in your [spiritual] hearing and
sluggish [even [f]slothful in achieving spiritual insight]. For even
though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need
someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God's
Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food. For everyone who
continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in
the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in
purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not able to
talk yet]! But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose
senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate
and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is
evil and contrary either to divine or human law," the Amplified Bible.
That thing Paul calls "solid food" is the tough stuff you either read
in the Word, or hear in a sermon. The kind of stuff [food] that needs
to be chewed before swollowing. The kind of stuff that keeps you
coming back, prayerfully, to that scripture, or that church, so you
can clearly see your walk and see what God needs you to do in order to
grow closer to Him.
When I think of spiritual infants for Jesus, I see in front of me the
vision of an adult body laying on top of a baby blanket on the floor
in the middle of the living room. In one hand is the Bible and the
other hand, a noisy rattle [the rattle, for a baby, is much easier to
manipulate and use] . Sitting next to the infant on the floor is a
half empty bottle of milk, and I clearly see this adult infant for
Jesus still wearing nothing more than a large diaper, [the Pampered
brand]. This infant 4 Jesus is doing nothing but waiting for his next
bottle, diaper change, and crying when his/her expectations aren't
meant.
That my brothers, is what I see when I visualize an adult believer
stuck in the "Twilight Zone" of spiritual infancy. It is truly a
pathetic sight, and I'm sorry to say this, but it is all too often
seen within too many churches today.
Read on.....In Ephesians 4:11-14 - Paul writes, "His gifts were
[varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles
(special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and
expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling
missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. His
intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His
consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering
toward building up Christ's body (the church), [That it might develop]
until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of
the [[a]full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might
arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality
which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own
perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ
and the completeness found in Him. So then, we may no longer be
children, tossed [like ****ps] to and fro between chance gusts of
teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey
of] the cunning and cleverness of [b]unscrupulous men, [gamblers
engaged] in every ****fting form of trickery in inventing errors to
mislead," the Amplified Bible.
If the above message causes you to feel anger, or disagreement with
me, than you just may be an infant. God wants each of us to grow, in
order to protect us from being tossed to and fro, and to help us
better proclaim the Gospel.
The devil wants three things to happen with a new born believer in
Jesus. 1) He wants us to fall away [back slide] and be inactive, or
ineffective, or both; or, 2) He wants us to stall out, and get stuck
in a spiritual rut, hopefully in the infancy stages of our spiritual
life; and 3) He wants us be poor witnesses for the Kingdom.
The time to grow is now. Get yourself into a Bible teaching church,
with a pastor that regularly steps on your spiritual toes, pu****ng you
to grow. Get back to reading and studying the word. Forsake not the
gathering [fellow****p] of yourselves together. And live each day for
Jesus, spreading His word to the world around you. Finally, learn to
talk to God. I purposely didn't say pray, because I think we are
better able to communicate with God when we can talk to Him like we'd
talk to someone who we love very much and feel comfrotable being
around. This is intercession at its best. Our prayer life should be
intimate as well as respectful. But never formal....
That's all for now, so, Go, Grow, and Sin no more!
Shalom,
Pastor Paul
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