1 Peter 2:2 – As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. (NKJV)

Hebrews 5:13 – For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. (NKJV)

I was sleeping, or I thought I was, and the thought came to me, If you want to build churches (not necessarily physically), get them into My Word. The Word is like a muscle that can propel us forward. It creates thirst, and it makes us hungry. When we are hungry, we will want to reach out to others who are hungry, so that we can have a feast together, where we can talk and share about things that matter. Then, we will want to teach others so that they can feed themselves.

I have a granddaughter, Maisy, who, when she was born, had an instinctive desire to nurse and get the milk that she needed. As she did so, she gained the necessary weight to begin to thrive.

Unfortunately, Maisy contracted a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and she had to go onto a feeding tube. While it maintained her weight and her life, she did not grow. She lost the desire to nurse, and the nursing muscle in her mouth and cheeks weakened. A specialist was sent in to advise my daughter. In the end, after a two-week stay in the hospital, Maisy regained her strength and was able to feed on her own.

During that time in hospital, I was touched by the many church friends in that community who supported the little family in their time of need. I know that her church family will help Maisy on her faith journey so that she will know her Lord and have a real relationship with Him.

I see some parallels between what happened to Maisy and what occurs in our churches and in our faith walk. Maisy is like the newborn Christian who begins with zest and hunger for the Word. But then, she is attacked and must go back to only milk. Milk allows her to survive but not to grow and mature.

Likewise, we Christians need the solid food of God's Word in our lives, day by day, if we, too, are to thrive and mature as His people.

I have discovered that the more I am in the Word, the more that I thirst for the Word. And the more that I thirst for the Word, the more that I want to be a doer and sharer of the Word as a true follower of Jesus.

Going to church and Bible study is a good beginning to receiving and understanding the Word, but it is not enough in itself. We also need to learn to get our own solid food, instead of totally relying on ministers to spoon-feed us. We must learn to read and study the Bible for ourselves and to encourage others to do likewise, that we in the body of Christ might become skilled in the Word of righteousness.

Prayer: Thank You, Abba Father, for Your care and for the opportunities that You give us to be part of a church family. Help us, Lord, to take our role, as Your followers, to help to encourage others in their faith journey. Make us mindful of our own need to be fed by Your Word. Keep us on the path that follows You. Amen.

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About the author:

Liz Samis <lizregsamis@gmail.com>
Elmira, Ontario, Canada
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