Christian Family · Biblical Wisdom · Identity in Christ

Spiritual children?

3 min read, approximately

“So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as children in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet able to receive it, and you still are not, because you are still of the flesh. For when there is jealousy, strife, and division among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving like ordinary people?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)

Even though Jesus Christ has called us to go, make disciples, and teach them everything he has taught us, when we fail to do so it is as though we do NOT listen to or read the Lord’s Word… The ongoing gossip, grumbling, quarrels, and so on are evidence of this.

“We have much to say about this, and it is difficult to explain because you have become slow to listen. For although by now you ought to be teachers, after so much time you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s words again; you have become people who need milk rather than solid food. Everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the word of righteousness, because they are a child; but solid food is for those who have reached maturity, whose senses have been trained through practice to discern good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14)

With solid food, we will train:

“…the eyes of your understanding, so that you may know the hope to which he has called you and the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints” (Ephesians 1:18)

It is clear that:

“…the natural person does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness to that person, who cannot understand them because they must be spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)

We are not natural people! So much so that:

“…our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20)

So today we can put into practice, for example, this instruction:

“Welcome the one who is weak in faith, but not to quarrel over opinions” (Romans 14:1)

This is one of the many ways we can:

“…be doers of the word, and not merely hearers, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)

Let us understand once and for all that:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16)

If we read it and meditate on it… Should we then keep doing the same things?

“The wicked man digs for evil, and on his lips there is something like a flame of fire. The wicked man stirs up strife, and a gossip separates the closest friends. The evil man flatters his neighbor and leads him down a path that is not good. He closes his eyes to devise wicked things; he moves his lips and brings evil about.” (Proverbs 16:27-30)

So what will we do? Do we want to train our discernment so that we can please God, go against the current, and thus be children of light? Or do we want to satisfy the schemes and desires of this world and thus become enemies of God? Let us make a decision.

May God continue to bless you
and may you continue to have an excellent day in Christ Jesus!
I invite you to stop by the Songbook