Shrinking or Growing?

Descipleship

3

1And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able, 3for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people?

– 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the actual words of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13For everyone who partakes only of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.

– Hebrews 5:12-14
(NASB® © 2020)

Every parent would agree with me: If your child still only drinks milk at the age of five and can’t tolerate anything else, that’s not normal or natural. Lack of growth shows that something is wrong with the child – it is sick.

The same applies in the spiritual realm. If there is no spiritual growth, there is something wrong with the Christian – somehow, they are sick. 

We find at least two examples in the Bible:

  • 1 Cor. 3:1-3: “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;for you are still carnal.”

Although the Corinthians had been converted for some time, there was obviously little growth. They had little insight into the thoughts of God, misjudged sins, lived in strife, and were self-satisfied and carnally minded. As Paul says, they were babes in Christ, in other words, spiritual babies. Paul could only give them milk; that was all they could take.

  • Heb 5:12-14: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

The Hebrews’ case is drastic: They were given milk at the beginning and later even solid food—so they grew—but suddenly, they fell back into the “milk stage.” Because they wanted to give up Christianity and return to Judaism, they became spiritual babies again.

Let us examine ourselves and do some soul-searching. Have we made steps of growth in faith in the past? Have we learned new aspects of the Lord that have become valuable to us? Do we like to read deep, initially complex Bible passages to get to know the Lord or our salvation better, or do we feed ourselves exclusively on the “light fare” of short devotional books or short YouTube devotions? It would be good and normal for us to grow in faith. However, a life that is too loose (as with the Corinthians) and too strict/stiff (as with the Hebrews) can block growth.

Some hints for growth:

  • Eph 4:13: “… till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
  • Eph 4:15: “… may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.”
  • Col 1:10: “… increasing in the knowledge of God.”
  • 2 Pet 3:18: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Are you shrinking – like the Hebrews? Or are you standing still – like the Corinthians? Or are you growing?

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