An Open Letter to the Growing Believer.
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. — John 15:16 (NASB)
The appointment of fruitfulness comes with a promise, that whatever we ask of the Father in the name of Jesus will be granted to us. We also see this in Matthew 7: Ask, Seek, Knock. However, we often fixate on the promise while forgetting the appointment.
All creation carries “seed” within it, i.e. the capacity for fruitfulness. However, seeds must undergo a growth process that matures them into plants and unlocks their capacity to bear fruit. As God’s apex creation, we are not exempt from this principle.
If we do not undergo the transformation offered by the seed of God’s Word, we remain babies — and a baby cannot produce anything. Yes, babies enjoy many benefits — they are carried, cuddled, given prompt attention, gifts etc., but it is never a good thing to remain an infant. Little children are unmanifested potential. Imagine a kid that doesn’t grow teeth or isn’t walking or talking when expected. It’s no longer cutesy, it’s a cause for alarm. We expect children to become adults and contribute to the development of society.
In the same way, God expects us to grow spiritually, He is not pleased when we remain immature. It is true that “each individual differs in their journey of spiritual growth,” but there must at least be positive development, no matter how little. A lack of growth is the first sign of spiritual trouble.
Concerning Him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. — Hebrews 5:11–14 (NASB)
Look at this! A person who partakes ONLY of milk (i.e. the elementary principles of the oracles of God), is an infant who lacks the senses to discern good and evil because they have no practice! Do you see what Apostle Paul is saying? Babies who only know milk attempt to eat everything they see. To them, a biro is no different from a carrot. Their only tool is the mouth because their senses of sight, smell and sound are not well developed to distinguish good from evil.
This dangerous lack of discernment means they are seriously prone to harming themselves, particularly with things that are normally harmless to adults. Every two seconds someone must ensure they haven’t gone off and put something in their mouth they cannot handle. Even if you shout, STOP THAT, they won’t. You have to go there and help them out.
Spiritually, this is the equivalent of being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14). Apostle Paul realised that what he desired to share required discernment to receive it. If given to infants, that word would be unprofitable (not fruitful) because they could misunderstand/misinterpret it as evil, heresy or false doctrine since their senses were untrained.
Therefore, he was careful not to share it with them. There is a lesson here for those called to teach, but lest I digress — he who has an ear, let him hear.
Training Practice = Expertise (aka Maturity)
Through regular practice, we train our senses to understand when something is safe for consumption or must be spat out. This word “practice” is key — it is the process by which we train our senses at the granular level (i.e. daily grind).
Pause, and ask yourself — what are my daily practices? Are they bringing me closer to fruitfulness or not?
Training ourselves in discernment is how we grow up spiritually and yield the fruit God desires to see in our lives. Once again we can observe this in the development of babies — they reach a stage where they can tell when something isn’t real food because they have had regular practice in the study of food with parental oversight!
Soon, it is expected that their senses will be so well trained that they can spot someone else doing something dangerous, and rush to their aid (this is why many firstborns suffered much in the hands of their parents aka didn’t you see your brother, what were you doing when he did this?).
The capacity to walk in discernment is how we know a person is approaching spiritual maturity, their “potential” is manifesting and they can handle more responsibility. They can be sent to get water and not return with kerosene. You can confidently place “expectations” on them.
It’s a good time to ask yourself — can expectations be placed on me?
On the flip side, there are times when all infants want is “sweet” food; once they realise the food is bitter, they refuse it altogether. We sometimes react similarly to the Word, and that can stifle our fruitfulness.
The proof of adulthood is being able to discern that a meal is good for your health, despite its bitter taste; and swallow that meal wholly, sometimes in tears.
A person who refuses to grow spiritually will become a liability in the body of Christ because they will be difficult to teach, and in their ignorance, satan can harm them by causing them to do foolish things!
Maturity is having the senses to discern between good and evil using the Word. You apply God’s word to any situation and take action — flee when you need to flee or bind when you need to bind. You are not mixing up the two.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. — I Corinthians 3:1–3a (NASB).
We must abandon fleshly things because they hinder our discernment and keep us from being fruitful. The older we get, the more drinking just milk becomes an unsuitable diet, unable to nourish us, we are stronger and better off with solid food. The very point of babies drinking ONLY milk for an extended period is that it lays the foundation for growing the teeth to handle tougher things.
Discernment is the reproductive organ of every believer. It is the cloak of maturity without which, fruitfulness will be elusive. You will just keep swallowing whatever trend or doctrine is being forced down your throat by the prince of the air, lacking the teeth to chew and break things down.
John MacArthur’s commentary describes the analogy between milk and solid food in this way — milk is like predigested truth, easy to swallow whole, but meat requires the development of teeth and the action of chewing. There is more involved in the process of eating solid food.
Beloved, the more is all that I have written to you herein. Labour to build discernment (teeth and chewing) by giving yourself to the disciplines of the faith — the Word and prayer (Acts 6:4) — that you may learn to eat meat and spit out the bones, and go on to remove bones from fish before feeding it to others so it doesn’t choke them.
If we are to fulfil the appointment of fruitfulness, we must pursue maturity and become accustomed to the word of righteousness. Through this we can effectively wield that promise — whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you — to ask for things that please the heart of the Father to give unto us. Selah.
Cheers, have a splendid week!
Jola J. Atoki
X (Twitter): @christine_toks
Push Buttons is a weekly devotional of The Powerpoint Tribe.
