Maturity through Nutrition

Word for the Week Focus: Life of a Son Part 1: Maturity through Nutrition Greetings Sons of God: Now many of us have heard the word discipleship and we have ideas to what it means. Most people know it to mean to be a student. But let me take you a slightly different route. If we are talking about being sons of God then there is a way that the Father matures us. Naturally how are our children matured. Newborn baby gets breast milk and graduates to cereal and ultimately to solids. Now as the child grows, the diet must change and more nutrients are needed for the growing body. Now the scary reality is for many sons we have not been fed properly and believe we are maturing but when our faith is challenged we fold and pray to the Lord to deliver from this anguish. In a subsequent message we will talk about the importance of suffering. But we equate the anguish to demonic attack when it is the Lord showing you based upon your response to His trial, where you are in your maturity. Now in our natural life we have names for stages of childhood growth such as, newborn, infant, toddler, teenager, adult, parent (father or mother). It is the same in the spiritual but let me share this scripture with you: 1 Peter 2:1-3: Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Here Peter tells us as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word. For many people, they are not aware of where they are in their maturity in Christ. Now the obvious question that we need to be asking “what is the milk of the word?” Now is it safe to say if you do not know what the milk of the word is then you could be a newborn babe? Something to think about! Hebrews 5:12-14: 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 unskillful 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. Shelf-check time! Based upon these two scriptures we need to ask ourselves regardless of our natural age, are we babes in Christ? Based upon seeing many in the Body of Christ, we have a lot of babes and the scary part is we have many babes who are leaders over congregations. In the next message we will look at what the milk of the Word is. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.