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Jun 05, 2025 06:00am

From Milk to Maturity: Growing in Christ

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There’s nothing like a sweet new puppy, is there? Their tiny little faces and paws, nuzzling, trying to find milk. For the first three to four weeks, that’s all their little bodies can handle. It’s the nutrients they need to get the best start.

Growth begins.

At around two weeks, their eyes and ears begin to open. They start building muscle and push their way around. They become more mobile and start to push up on their legs, trying to squeeze in to get a little more milk.

Around three to four weeks of age, we begin introducing them to mush. It’s softened puppy food with milk and water. They are beginning the weaning stage, and at this point, they require more substance in order to grow and develop. We introduce a water dripper to them so they can begin drinking from that and lessen the amount of liquid in their mush.

By five to six weeks, these babies have teeth, and they are ready for even more substance. We introduce them to hard food, and they love it! They can’t seem to get enough. We often find them laid over the food bowl because they fell asleep while eating.

There are a few, though, that struggle early on. They require a little more care, more milk, and aren’t ready for the mush when the others are. Some we have to bottle-feed for an additional week to make sure they don’t get behind. They may not take to the mush at first, but after a few days of leading them back up to it, they’re ready for it.

1 Corinthians 3:1–3
“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.
2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?”

This church in Corinth was struggling. The believers weren’t growing in their faith. They were still clinging to the world instead of fully surrendering to the Lord. This left them as mere babies in their spiritual walk. And what do babies eat? Milk. That’s all they could handle—“spiritual milk” for their nourishment. Paul couldn’t give them deeper teaching and speak of spiritual things because they couldn’t understand it yet. Just like you couldn’t hand a baby a steak and expect him to eat it.

When we come to Christ, when we ask the Lord to save us, that is only the beginning of our new life. We are mere babies in Christ. We need to start with basic things to understand who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him. And then, as we grow in our understanding, spending more time in God’s Word and prayer, we desire the things of the Lord more and more. And the things of the world—we should begin to desire them less and less.

Paul wanted to feed them more, but they weren’t ready. Are you?

Where are you in your spiritual journey? Are you growing in Christ, or would you say that you’re still needing milk? Commit yourself to the Lord through discipleship. Learn what it means to follow Him through. Go to follow.lifeword.org to begin that journey. And now, in Spanish at follow.lifeword.org/spanish.

Babies grow, and one day, they will even become parents. Did you realize that’s part of God’s plan for you too? To have spiritual children. What do I mean? Take what you learn in discipleship and then turn around and invest in someone else. Don’t know how? You can use FOLLOW for that too! There’s even a Next Step Leader’s Guide under the resources tab to help you.

And maybe one day, you’ll be a grandparent too!

2 Peter 3:18
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”