Are You Still On Milk?
Nursing has been a journey.
I remember starting and why I wanted to do it. Especially being that my youngest son was premature, nursing was going to be so beneficial to him. The bond we would share would also be incredible. And it was! However, I didn't consider how attached he would be if I waited too long to wean him off, or how it would become less beneficial for us both. As I started pondering on weaning him off I also started studying the book of Hebrews with my Bible study group.
During my study time to get ready for Bible Study in LoJay's Corner, I came across a scripture that spoke to my life at that moment.
Hebrews 5
12 There has been enough time for you to be teachers—yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God's message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. 13 Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. 14 Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice, are able to distinguish between good and evil.
I started to ponder on how me wanting to wean my son off nursing, and spiritual maturity went hand in hand. And why we sometimes never get where we need to be in our walk because we refuse to get off milk. I started to research and found that nursing too long can hinder a child from being able to self soothe. It can also cause a child to have a ton of allergies due to non-exposure. An allergy is a damaging immune response by the body to a substance.
Noble nursed for a little over two years. I wanted to stop after a year, but with him being very attached, and me wanting to sleep to make it through my day to day that year turned into two. He still ate regular food, but he always wanted to nurse as often as I would let him. He would eat less to nurse more. I started feeling like it was time to get him off but just couldn't afford the sleepless nights. And he surely wasn't the only one that would be crying, I would be too. He wanted to nurse, and I wanted sleep.
He was waking up in the middle of the night, asking for food and nursing due to his hunger. One day I woke up and decided today is the day I stop. I couldn't slowly do it at this point because it seemed to just confuse him and cause him to throw tantrums. I had to cut him off cold turkey. He cried, I cried, and neither one of us slept for a few days. After the fourth or fifth day, he realized he wasn't going to be nursing anymore. Although, I still have to remind him he's a big boy now, so no more nursing, he will even some days try his luck. He is now completely off of milk and only eats meat… vegetables and fruit too.
It's the same way with us as Christians, it's a journey. If we stay on milk too long, we will not become spiritually mature. To mature, we must get off milk and eat meat.
If we don't, the first thing we should know, we won't. Our spiritual growth will be compromised. We will develop spiritual allergies, which will cause damage to our spirit/soul. Spiritual allergy, in my definition, would be a damaging spiritual response to the body from the world, worldly people, and things. Being that you aren't exposed to the Word outside of what someone else is telling you, it becomes challenging to combat what the world is feeding you due to a lack of spiritual discernment. Not being able to distinguish good and evil for ourselves can have us easily swayed to believe false doctrines.
Just because we think it's good doesn't mean it's God. Anything that's not of God is evil. There is only one truth and one way! (John 14:6)
We won't know how to comfort ourselves, nor will we know how to find our comfort in God. This can leave us in an inadequate space in our lives because we're dependent on everything but God. We can end up self-medicating and soothing ourselves with drugs, alcohol, fornication, pornography, and more. We will perform practices and rituals unbeknown to how it will affect our relationship with God because of what's trending in the world. Things like yoga, saging to drive out demons, and using crystals for healing. These things will only satisfy our flesh at the moment, but will also affect our relationship with God. By not studying, we end up unaware of what God says. We also end up uninformed of how He sees us. Therefore, we end up believing what life experiences and who other people tell us we are. Not knowing we can run to God for balance, healing, and the only thing that will drive out evil is the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave us upon His death and resurrection. Not knowing the Word for yourself can lead us to feel depressed, anxious, suicidal, jealous, prideful, and envious. Spiritual maturity will cause you to use your authority in Christ Jesus to take your thoughts captive and make them obey the Word of God. (2 Corinthians 10:5) We receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us so we don’t have to find that power in anything else. (Acts 1:8) The longer we stay on milk, the more damage we do to our spirit, and the harder it will be to unlearn and break bad habits. Somethings we will gradually stop doing (thank God for grace) because bad habits aren't easy to cut and somethings we will just have to quit cold turkey. Especially if we want to spiritually mature and be in right standing with God. Our flesh is weak, so just like I have to remind Noble he can no longer nurse and encourage him, we must speak the Word of God and his promises over ourselves to tell our flesh who has authority.
So, what do you do to get off milk?
What do you do to spiritually mature?
You seek God and study! Seek Him, and you shall find Him. If you knock, God will surely answer. (Matthew 7:7) Ask God for wisdom, and He will generously give it to you. (James 1:5) Ask God for the gift of discernment. (Psalm 119:27) Pray before studying the Word of God and ask Him for revelation. Ask Him to break the encryption on the text and read different versions but always going back to KJV. Get in a #commUNITY and around like-minded people that are studying the Word of God. Iron sharpens iron. (Proverbs 27:17) It's one thing to hear a Pastor preach on Sunday, but you can't stop there if you want to grow. You must get out of your comfort zone and get in His Word for yourself. This will enable you to not be swayed by what others do or say. Ask God to send you help. If you are seeking Him with all your heart, you will surely find Him.