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Gaining Weight . . . The Good Way

"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 5:13-14

Well, January is long gone and I wonder how many people are still following through with the well intended resolutions they made at the beginning of the year of eating less and exercising more!   I, too, have been guilty of starting with a vengeance, only to fail when it comes to enduring for the long haul.

As I was researching what the recommended calorie intake is for people my age and with my lifestyle (unfortunately, rather sedentary!), I learned that there are three categories for the recommendation of the daily number of calories a person should consume.  Those categories are for people seeking:  Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance, and Weight Gain.

As I thought about how insanely jealous I was of the people who actually needed to gain weight, it made me think about the many Christians in the Body of Christ who need to gain some weight -- spiritually speaking.

Christian researchers have been telling us for quite some time that the majority of churches in America have plateaued (merely maintaining what they have) or are declining on a yearly basis.  I have a feeling that as goes the church, goes the individual Christian.  I'm fearful that many Christians have fallen into the category of Weight Maintenance or Weight Loss, rather than Weight Gain (spiritual growth).

Unfortunately, this is nothing new.  We see several times in the New Testament where the early church is being encouraged to get off the milk and to get into the meatier and more substantive aspects of their faith. 

The writer of Hebrews is writing to a group of people who were not new converts to the faith.  They had been Christians for some time and they should have been capable of being teachers of the Gospel, but rather still needed to be taught very simple and elementary truths.  

It would be very easy for me to mimic the Jewish Christians in the book of Hebrews and bank on my childhood profession of faith and the long time faith of my parents and grandparents.  It would be easy to become content in seeing God become real and vital to the people around me while my relationship with him is reduced to an occasional prayer before a meal or engorging on whatever my pastor can feed me on Sunday mornings, only to starve myself of the Word until the following week.

Thankfully, I can't do that.  I have tasted the things of the Lord and I can't keep away from His table.  As I consume more of His Word, it makes me hunger for more.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good."  Psalm 34:8a

I saw a picture online some time ago that said:

"The Bible is meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions."
 
I hope you will join me in making God's Word a part of your daily diet.  If you are still on the bottle and haven't progressed in your faith to digesting spiritual food with more substance, it's not too late!  Wherever you are in your spiritual walk, ask God to give you a hunger for His Word.  You will be amazed how His Word can fill you in a way that you didn't even know was possible.
 

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