There are so many times yet today that I feel like a babe in Christ. I’ll read what I suppose to be the simplest of verses and discover how very rich every small word that Christ says is, and how needful it is that I don’t take it for granted. It’s why I don’t miss out on any opportunity to be taught, to have my senses “exercised.” That’s why I’m in Lexington, Virginia with some “Sista Chicks!” We traveled 200 miles and a hundred giggles to get to this place of aerobic worship. (Aerobic exercise increases oxygen, Jesus is the breath of life, therefore it’s aerobic worship!) I want to exercise my faith that it might get stronger, increasing endurance for the journey of life.
Hebrews 5:11-14 ~ Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
I don’t ever want those verses read of me; that I’m a milk baby! But I’ve met my fair share of Christians in my day who are content in infancy. They show up to church on Sunday morning to be bottle fed the gospel having no desire to be fed the meat of the word. The meat of the word of God requires chewing and digestion, it won’t just flow through and make a body feel good. They’ll be some effort necessary to cause the nutrients to travel throughout the body nourishing it and providing strength for labor. It’s what big boys and girls in the gospel eat so that may apply it to their lives and in turn be an example for others to follow.
Milk has (for the most part) one flavor. But meat! What a variety and the same holds true in the gospel. Every time you read and study the word of God it has an entirely different flavor depending upon where you are in life. I can remember as a young convert I read a scripture and my eyes would just glaze over, it would be so far above what I could comprehend at the time, but then a little further down the road I’d read it again and the meaning and depth of God’s word would come to life. I soon learned that as a baby Christian I only needed the milk of the word, just the basics to become grounded in my new found faith. But as I grew in Christ, the Lord had greater expectations for me and from me, and little by little He would reveal a greater meaning in His word until one day I discovered I was no longer being nursed but was now sitting at the big girls table.
Today, I’m settin’ at the big girls table again. I’m going to a banquet to feast on a variety of flavors doled out by women of God who have walked another path than I have but are leading to same main highway. I hope to take what I hear today and apply it to my life and ministry which will strengthen me. I never know when I may have to help carry a heavier load, or perhaps carry someone else’s share of the load. I can’t do that unless I exercise my faith. If you happen to be around Kerr’s Creek Baptist Church in Lexington, VA, come and dine with me! If not, you have a banquet table set before you with the Word of God.
Edify your soul.
Exercise your faith.
Encourage your heart!
Get fit!