Put Down The Baby Bottle & Fire Up The Grill

by Bro. Craig Amenell
06/08/2023

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 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.”

They say it is impossible to have a retained memory before the age of three. What we believe to be our memory is nothing more than a story sometimes fed with pictures of the event or time.

I don’t remember drinking from a baby bottle, but family photos prove otherwise. After that, I moved on to soft foods. Eventually, the foods I consumed became more solid and increased in variety. The only thing that prevented me from fully maturing in what I ate was my preconceived ideas, and sadly I allowed my mind to guide what I ate. I had allowed myself to be comfortable with what I knew about food, settling for chicken nuggets and I could have been eating steak.

One might ask how old were you when you stunted out? I was six years old, and I let myself stay in that immature state of eating until I was sixteen. I wasted ten years settling for food reserved for toddlers.

We expect a two-year-old to start talking, a five-year-old to carry on a conversation, a 10-year-old to rationalize what they are being told, a 15-year-old to take on more responsibilities and we hope by the age of twenty a man can take care of themselves and even help others. Why would we not expect just as much or more when it comes to the spiritual?

Can you talk about and understand the basics of the Bible? Are you able to take what you read and rationalize how God's Word applies to your life and put it into practice? Do you still need others to explain God's Word to you or are you able to discern it? Have you made it a part of your practice to recognize and help others when you can in their spiritual growth?

Can you imagine someone being saved for only a few weeks sharing the Gospel with almost everyone they see, while men who have been saved for over twenty years can’t remember the last time they did or have ever shared the Gospel with anyone? What a silly sight that would be to see infants in the faith eating steak while men who have been saved most of their lives are still drinking from a baby bottle.

I spoke about my stunted development in my physical life. Ironically, I experienced something similar in my spiritual life. I have been saved for eighteen years and it wasn’t until two years ago that I started growing spiritually again. I stalled out at six years and wasted the next ten going nowhere in my spiritual growth. What would I look like now if I hadn't wasted ten years?  How many others might I have fed, who themselves might be feeding others by now?

Many men take great pride in being able to fire up the grill and make delicious meats for others. My prayer is that we as a church family would have men that are mature enough spiritually to feed the younger generation so that they get a taste for “strong meat” by the example being set and won’t be satisfied with a baby bottle.

Christian, how long have you been saved?  When you accepted Christ, you were born again and spiritually started at infancy. When it came to God's Word you could only consume and digest easy things. Just as one does not expect to see a grown man drinking from a baby bottle to get his daily nutrients, neither does one expect to see a Christian that has been saved for twenty years or even five unable to discern the scriptures. Some of our men need to put down the baby bottle and fire up the grill.