Pablumizing? Yucky kaka!

Babies drink milk for the first year of their life because they are not equipped to digest solid foods.  Even with milk, babies often develop gas when they are newborns because their little intestines are still learning to accommodate food. Their lives are entirely dependent on someone else  to grow. As their bodies grow and mature, they develop teeth to grind, chop and tear food to make it malleable for the absorption of its nutrients in the most effective manner.

The body was designed to take in solid food and process it so as to operate at full potential obtaining nutrients from many different varieties of foods. What if a toddler decided it was too much work to use his teeth and stayed in the milk stage the rest of his life? Poor nutrition and dependency would be the results. In addition, what kind of parent would want that for his child? God certainly does not act like that with us!

God uses this example in Hebrews to express his desire for the reality of what Christ accomplished to become active and practical in a person’s life. In addressing the Hebrews, He makes it clear that something had changed, but in a previous verse He said they had become dull of hearing. His desire is for them to mature and rise out of the learned dependency evident in their lives.

 Hebrews 5:12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The word ‘discern’(see link) in this verse is 'diakrisis' which means ‘to discriminate’ or ‘distinguish’. The words ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are ‘kalon’ and ‘kakon’(from kala and kaka). It is interesting to note that in the Greek there is only one letter difference between these two words! Sometimes there is such a fine line between good and evil that it is hard to distinguish.  Many times evil passes for good and good for evil! It is our confidence in God’s Word that we have made our own that we can see and thus act with the right response to whatever is set before us.  This is what maturity is all about.

God’s full intention in the new birth is for people to grow up out of the baby stage and utilize the principles of the Word, not just in a ‘spoon-fed’ routine, but actively in the bold righteousness! We are not to forget the first principles of God. God is LOVE and in him is no darkness at all! It is from that point of view we are able to discern between good and evil and know what God's best is for our lives.