From: Pastor Bill Mugnolo, HARP Pastoral Advisor (February 13-19, 2017)
“A Word for this Week”: “Beyond Baby Food” … 1 Corinthians 3:1-2
A fond memory that so many of us have is of our children, in infancy, starting to eat baby food. By the time they got to their first birthday, they were even able to eat cake—although on that birthday they mostly “wore” the cake. As fond as those memories might have been, we were grateful when they began to eat solid food. It was a sign that they were growing up.
So too are we meant to have a spiritual diet that takes us “beyond baby food”—that is beyond the basic teachings of God’s Word. Now just as milk will still have a place in the physical diet of an adult or an older child, the “milk” of the Word will always have a place for the believer in Christ (1 Peter 2:2-3). Truly, we always need to be reminded of those basic truths that we are sinners in need of a Savior whom we find alone in Christ and by what He has done by His cross and resurrection so that we would have forgiveness and lasting life.
But we are also meant to go deeper in the Word so that we are better equipped to distinguish right from wrong (Hebrews 5:14) and to get through the many challenges that life sends our way. The deeper that we partake of the Bible’s “solid food” the more we shall resist the devil, see him flee, and emerge victorious in Christ. In these deeper truth we shall grow in the wisdom that comes down to us from above (1 Corinthians 2:13).
But in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2, we see that so many in that congregation were still like spiritual infants who hadn’t gone beyond the “milk of the Word”. Sadly, many who are in Christ are like so many who were in Corinth. In the physical sense, we wouldn’t want to remain on baby food; that would mean that we could never eat steak, burgers, pizza, or, if you are a vegetarian—vegetable stir fry. But, for many Christians, they are so unwilling, spiritually, to go “beyond baby food”.
Yes it will be a struggle to do this (Ephesians 6:12). But God’s Spirit within us is greater (1 John 4:4). He will give us a hunger for the Word and direct us into Bible Studies and small groups where we’ll be fed with “solid food”. More and more, His Word will be “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
