Baby Christians vs. Mature Christians

[Guest Called]

There is so much more we would like to say about this.  But you don't seem to listen, so it's hard to make you understand.  You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others.  Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures.  You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food.  And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right.  Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right.  Hebrews 5:11-14

As Christians we often need to take inventory of our lives and determine if we are maturing in the Lord. Are we still on milk in some areas of our Christian walk? What are ways we can improve and grow up?

I was thinking of examples of a baby Christian compared to a mature/maturing Christian and here is what I came up with:

Baby Christians- Give in to tempation easier, less consistent, more temporal minded, passive, easily lulled to sleep, complacent, easily offended.

Mature Christians- Able to resist temptation, more disciplined, eternal minded, active in their fath, faithful, submits to spiritual authority.

Those are just some examples that the Holy Spirit brought to mind. I am sure there are alot more! I also want to say that if your a new Christian then it is okay that you are on milk! All babies start on milk, the important thing is that you continue to grow! I am mainly speaking to the one's who have been saved for years.

I guess my question is, what can we do to mature? Is there anything we can do or does it just happen over time? I have some ideas, but I really want to here what y'all have to say!

God Bless!

Debbie

[dwinkjr]

I'm Somewhere in my teen years as a christian

I remain open minded and am always open to further revelations from the Holy Spirit. I seek God's Truth not the "truths" of any one denomination or man.

We all need to continue our growth Daily and eat of the Meat of God Daily. For without his meat we will surely starve to death. We must continue to Grown and never allow ourselves to beome stagnant, for stagnant water breeds nothing but death.

God Bless,

Dave

[Orr v'emet]

Great topic Deb. You know we have had this discussion in the last few weeks. I was saved when I was in college years ago but I know that I didn't truly have an encounter with God until almost a year ago. I have thought alot about this subject. Some days I feel like I'm in the milk stages and other days I feel like I'm getting to the solid food stages. Last night and this morning I have been doing alot of thinking about producing fruit and evaluating where I am strong vs. where I am weak. I think this goes along with the milk and the meat scenario.

I firmly believe that my portion is my portion and that God will teach me things, mature me so to speak, in his time. I also believe however that I need to be doing everything I can to grow in Him by learning His word and praying. It doesn't mean I sit idly by without any personal effort.

You ask 'what can we do to become more mature?' I kinda think you answered it to in the beginning of your post. Take inventory. Measure yourself against the word. Ask yourself "am I closer to God today than I was yesterday?' 'am I producing fruits of love, joy, peace, patients, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control?' It's about taking a long hard look at yourself according to God's standards and not the worlds. Where can I improve? What can I study more of God's word about to enhance my walk with Him and produce more fruit?

Great thought-provoking thread Deb! You confirmed what the Holy Spirit has been telling me about taking a self-inventory! It's awesome how God works, huh? :il:

[Guest Called]

Ask yourself "am I closer to God today than I was yesterday?' 'am I producing fruits of love, joy, peace, patients, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control?'

I think that this is a good point. We can use the fruits of the Spirit to measure where we are in our walk with God. Thanks Kris!

I also think a way that we can mature is by mentoring other Christians. When we begin to disciple new Christians they challenge us. They ask alot of questions and sometimes they run ahead of us and then we have to catch up!

[Guest kitkat]

Hebrews5: 13

[Guest marriedtomymaker]

I guess I would be about 8 this past summer. I have always known about the Lord being brought up in a christian home---but the "true encounterer" happened in the summer of 1996. Lots of difficult things have happened since that time--And I would have to agree that your relationship with God will have its ups and downs. But , that is my response and how connected I am staying with prayer and bible reading. I have been rather stagnant and I need to get going again. I seem to be having a hard time jump starting my time of devotions. Faith is definitely a journey. But, we need to stay faithful and always be responding to Him. I was kind of thinking about the milk and meat analogy. Could we think that Jesus was saying that as we mature we can start digging deeper and growing more in how we live our life(meat).Understanding the deeper things in the Word ect. When we are "babies" in the faith we need to understand and dwell more of the basics. Can we become as we mature so sidetracked with understanding everything in the Bible that we are neglecting the "milk" of the basics of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Of knowing that we are a sinner and need a Savior. And the faith of a child? To keep these two things in balance. Just something I thought of.....

[Guest marriedtomymaker]

oops- reread my reply and realized I was said --that it was Jesus who said this but it was Paul. Or I guess since Paul was inspired by God in these words you could consider it said by Jesus

[Orr v'emet]

When we are "babies" in the faith we need to understand and dwell more of the basics. Can we become as we mature so sidetracked with understanding everything in the Bible that we are neglecting the "milk" of the basics of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

My thought is not really. I think as we grow and become more knowledgable in our faith and closer to our Savior, we will have a deeper love and awareness of the "basics" as you say and they will be more dear to our hearts. JMO

[BobTriez]

When we begin to disciple new Christians they challenge us. They ask alot of questions and sometimes they run ahead of us and then we have to catch up!

[Guest Called]

Important to realize of course, it's never a competition.