I love watching my son discover food. He's progressing into toddler-hood and with that comes the changing of his diet from bottles of milk to plates of avocado, banana, and sweet potato. I learned the hard way to not actually give him the plate, however, as all the food ends up dumped on and around him. The food that does end up in his mouth is stuffed into his massive cheeks until no more food can fit in there. Except peas … those don't last more than a few seconds on his tongue because peas are disgusting.
The Bible is full of stories, parables, and proverbs about food. Manna, loaves and fishes, and the first Communion are a few that come to mind. The author of Hebrews even uses food to teach a lesson about spiritual maturity. #teacheroftheyearaward
We have much to say about this [Jesus being our High Priest], but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. — Hebrews 5:11-14
Don't you love how rude the author is: "I can't explain this in a way that will make sense to you because you don't care about what I'm teaching." HA I loved it ... until I realized he was speaking to me.
I've gotten so comfortable with my life's routine and with the excuse of being a busy new mom that I've stopped trying to understand God's Words on my own. Oh, I'm still sitting under teachers at Crash, our pastors on Sundays, and even sermons on podcasts. But I wasn't really studying the Bible on my own. I've been staying in the feel-good Psalms for months, telling myself that any little time I found for reading the Bible was enough and that I don't have time for digging into deep Scripture.
Then, through a conversation with a friend, I realized that this "feel-good Bible reading" was just me drinking milk like my infant son. I wanted what was easy and fast. I didn't want to spend time or effort reading deep, spiritual concepts and truths. This isn't okay. I don't want my son to be 14 and still only drinking milk from a bottle. And my Heavenly Father doesn't want me to be drinking only from the Psalms.