On the Spiritual Bottle

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A preacher had dinner at the home of a couple in his church. After he left, the wife said to the husband, “I think he stole our spoon!” A year later they had the preacher over for dinner again. Unable to resist, the wife asked, “Did you steal our spoon last year?” The preacher replied, “No, I put it inside your Bible.”

 

This illustrates the all-too-often reality that Bibles are often owned but rarely opened.  A closed Bible cannot produce a spiritually mature Christian. Peter commanded Christians to grow, “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). Peter identifies the Word as the means of growth: “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). Milk represents spiritual nourishment and is necessary in infancy, but as a child matures, milk becomes insufficient. Solid food is needed for growth and maturity.

 

New Christians are expected to be immature and capable of receiving only milk. The problem is when that condition persists. Christians were never meant to perpetually remain on the spiritual milk of the Word, but to move on to solid food.

Paul scolded the Corinthians for this: “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” (1 Cor. 3:2); they were still “babes in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1). The writer of Hebrews confronted the same problem: “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; you have come to need milk and not solid food” (Heb. 5:12). Sadly, some of these Jewish Christians may have been Christians for 30 years, yet they still needed taught the elementary truths of the faith.

 

John MacArthur illustrates the tragedy: “Nothing is more precious or wonderful than a little baby. But a twenty-year-old with the mind of an infant is heartbreaking. A baby who acts like a baby is a joy; but an adult who acts like a baby is a tragedy.” And so is the Christian who remains on the spiritual bottle for years. Spiritual growth is a lifelong process that begins on the bottle but progresses to solid food. Don’t remain on the spiritual bottle.

 

Written by Craig Ressler