Back in 2016 I realized how overweight and unhealthy I had become. Stress, bad habits, and plain laziness had crept into my routine and resulted in increased blood pressure, heart palpitations, and tipping the scales more than ever. Something had to change! I was on a dangerous path. The awakening I experienced became motivation for a long journey of changes in diet, increases in exercise, improvements in health, and more.
Even though I am on the backside of a long journey and have somewhat maintained my lower weight and healthier habits, I still struggle with choices. It is so easy to hit snooze rather than wake up and hit the gym. It is more enjoyable to snack on chips and salsa rather than fruit and nuts. In fact, I must confess that I recently stepped on the scale and had gained five pounds back.
This reminder on the scale reinforces a never changing truth. Your success of yesterday and regress if you reinstate bad habits. This is a long term commitment to health that I must always remain focused on. There is a direct parallel of our physical health to our spiritual health.
Hebrews 5:11-14 offers a familiar analogy of a diet of milk versus meat. An infant should eat milk, yet an adult that is on a milk only diet will not sustain health. There has been much written about what constitutes spiritual milk as compared to spiritual meat. Without going into that now, we must recognize that the message of the Gospel is both milk and meat.
The focus today is to see that the Hebrew recipients of this sermon had seemingly regressed back to a milk diet. They had developed an inability to discern what is true and were “dull of hearing”. This stemmed from a gradual drifting from the Word that was first addressed in 2:1-4 and then a doubting of truth that was confronted in 3:7-4:12.
This pattern of regression is a potential hazard for us today if we listen more to culture rather than crave the truth of Scripture. Just like a weight loss success must work to keep the weight off, we must commit to continually grow in grace on a healthy diet of God’s Word.
Rather than walk in defeat and discouragement of your present situation or past failure, open your mind and heart to the need to consume the meat of God’s Word. Evaluate your current position and commit to making small and incremental changes. We’d love to hear about your journey and would even love to invite you to join us on our Carnivore Bible Reading Challenge. Together we can hold each other accountable to crave the word, apply it with discernment, and grow in grace.