You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. 1 Peter 2:2-3
I came across those verses this week in my reading. I can’t read these verses without getting the shimmy going…snap, snap, tap, tap, sing it with me:
I know a man, maybe you know him, too.
You never can tell; he might even be you.
He knelt at the altar, and that was the end.
He’s saved, and that’s all that matters to him.
His spiritual tummy, it can’t take too much.
One day a week, he gets a spiritual lunch.
On Sunday, he puts on his spiritual best,
And gives his language a spiritual rest.
He’s just a fat little baby!
Wa, wa, waaaaa….
He wants his bottle, and he don’t mean maybe.
He sampled solid foods once or twice,
But he says doctrine leaves him cold as ice.
Ba, ba, ba, ba…ba, ba…ba, ba!
He’s been baptized, sanctified, redeemed by the blood,
But his daily devotions are stuck in the mud.
He knows the books of the Bible and John 3:16.
He’s got the biggest King James you’ve ever seen!
I’ve always wondered if he’ll grow up someday.
He’s momma’s boy, and he likes it that way.
If you happen to see him, tell him I said,
“He’ll never grow, if he never gets fed.”
He’s just a fat little baby!
Wa, wa, waaaaa….
He wants his bottle, and he don’t mean maybe.
He sampled solid foods once or twice,
But he says doctrine leaves him cold as ice.
Ba, ba…..Heard that before? Some of you have. Fat Baby was sung by Amy Grant in the early ‘80s. It was also part of a kids Christmas musical, Candy Cane Lane – A Recipe for Life, in the ‘90s. It’s a catchy little tune. I promise, if you listen to it, you too will always get the sway on and break out in song when you read those verses in 1 Peter, or when you open the fridge. In addition to memorizing 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, memorize the words to that song. It’s slightly convicting. How so?
Was it enough just to kneel at the altar?That was just the start, not the finish.
How much can we stomach? Are we one and doners? Once a weekers?
Do we open our Bible on Sunday’s or any other day of the week?
Do we know the Books of the Bible – can we quote scripture – but we don’t know who Jesus is or the character of the God who made us?
Are we spoon fed consumers, like baby birds? Open up, drop it in, fly off. Are we willing to let others do the work of study and just report back to us?
Do we know what we believe? Do we know why we believe it?
Do we treat the Bible like a salad bar?
There’s so much more to Jesus than we can even think or imagine! Yet we are most times content to get just enough of Him to get by. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. When we do that, we are only fooling ourselves. We will never grow in Christ if we don’t get fed. If we don’t grow we will die. Plain and simple.
I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still worldly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans? 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
See what Paul says here? I can’t talk to you as spiritually mature adults, because you’re not. You hear what I say but you would rather listen to what the world says. Then he disses them and calls them mere humans. That’s quite a smack down. Mere humans. What would Paul call me? What would he call you?
We start out on spiritual milk, but in order to grow we must eat solid food. The Word of God is nourishment for our souls – it’s the solid food! As we mature and see our true need for God’s Word, we are nourished by it and the Spirit fills our spirits, we will want more, that’s how we grow up in Christ. That’s how it works.
Accepting Christ’s invitation is not the end – it’s the beginning. You see the expectation is for Christians to mature, to eat solid food, to be nourished, so that we can grow. What’s the big deal you say? Well, let’s think about this for a minute. What does food do for us? It powers us. Food has proteins that power our bodies to function. The Word of God powers our spirits. The Bible has proteins that we need. Actually, the Word of God has power that we simply cannot live without. Not dramatic – just truth!
If we are not living in Christ, we are living for the world. If we are not controlled by God, we are controlled by the world. In order to live out the life Christ has planned for us we must be spiritually mature. Spiritual maturity is not a place you arrive. Remember, we are mere humans, but we must have steady growth.
There is so much more we would like to say about this. But you don’t seem to listen, so it’s hard to make you understand. You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. And a person who is living on milk isn’t very far along in the Christian life and doesn’t know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right. Hebrews 5:11-14
If we want to know how mature we are in Christ, we just go to The Word. Do we know the difference between right and wrong? Are we doing right? Right and wrong according to Biblical standards, not the world’s standards.
He’s just a fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fa-at, fat…
Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fa-at, Fat…
FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAT, FAAAAAT…
…little baby…
Are we fat little babies? Do we need to grow up?