Quandary

If the knowledge of Christ is the preeminent quest in the believer’s life, why do we spend so much time on tertiary issues that have no impact or effect on salvation or a greater understanding of Him? It’s a fair question. Uncomfortable, but fair.

If some of us spent as much time studying the words of Jesus as we do aliens, giants, runes, temples, and whom the antichrist will end up being, we’d be so much further along in our spiritual awareness, maturity, and strength. The presence of Christ feeds the spiritual man. When fed, the spiritual man grows strong and bold, useful for the kingdom of God.

What your spiritual diet consists of matters because it will determine whether or not you are growing in God. It will also determine whether or not you are easily swayed by the enemy’s attempts at shipwrecking your faith.

1 Peter 2:1-3, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

Why should you desire the pure milk of the word instead of fanciful stories and fables? Because only the pure milk of the word can make you grow. The math is simple. In order to grow in God, you must consume His word. Peter wasn’t the only one to point out the necessity of consistent spiritual nourishment, but he did it in the nicest fashion.

Hebrews 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; 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.”

Lack of spiritual food impedes timely maturity. The author of Hebrews laments that by this stage, they ought to have been teachers, but for whatever reason, they stagnated in their growth to the point of needing milk anew and not solid food. The problem with a perpetual milk diet is that one is not skilled in the word of righteousness nor in discerning good and evil. They are babes, and so their abilities are stunted. They cannot perform the tasks that one who is full of age can.

Spiritual growth is healthy and necessary. If you find yourself stagnant, in the same spot for weeks, months, or years as far as spiritual maturity is concerned, if you find yourself making excuses for the lack of progress or growth, know that you are not where you’re supposed to be, or where God expects you to be.

The quandary the modern church faces is that individuals who haven’t even bothered with the milk insist that they’re eating steak medium rare and offering to teach others to do the same. They’re talking about things like deliverance and casting out demons when they haven’t clarified the basics of holiness, repentance, or sanctification.

If you’re going around insisting that deliverance is necessary for believers yet never once insisting that repentance and holiness unto the Lord are, you’re pretending to be a carnivore while you haven’t even sampled milk yet.

While we’re on the subject, the Bible talks extensively about repentance and sanctification, not so much about deliverance for believers. Whether or not true believers need deliverance is a discussion for another day, but why are we so quick to embrace something the Bible does not refer to while putting the things it insists upon on the back burner?

It sheds a whole new light on those who will insist they performed wonders in His name. “Lord, we did all these things!” 

“You may have, but it’s not what I told you to do.”

Neither of my daughters like doing the dishes. It is a family contribution that everyone must tackle once a week, and there are no substitutions. They found that out the hard way when after being told that their contribution for the day was for one of them to set up the table and the other to do the dishes after dinner, Victoria, my eldest, came up to me and said, “Daddy, I folded the laundry, my contribution is done.”

“Is that what Mom asked you to do?” I asked, already knowing what her answer would be.

After mumbling a dejected no, I told her that although I appreciated her folding the laundry, she still had to wash the dishes since her sister had set up the table earlier in the evening.

Just because we choose to focus on something other than what Jesus commanded doesn’t mean we’re no longer required to do what He commanded. There are no substitutions for repentance, holiness, or sanctification. There just aren’t.

You can cast generational demons out of your neighbor’s labradoodle until you’re blue in the face. It still doesn’t nullify the other things God commanded you to do via His Word. Substitutionary obedience really isn’t. I didn’t do what You told me, but I did something else, and that should suffice. Why can’t You appreciate the effort I put into doing this other thing? Because the other thing isn’t the thing He commanded you to do.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.