Over the course of the past few weeks, I have posted several blogs about what all the Lord has been teaching me from my encounters with the various herds of cattle I come across while out walking each day. As I have continued to reflect on this matter, He has now shown me yet another spiritual principle from the lives of these simple creatures. I want to share it here.
I related earlier that Black Angus calves can be born at any time throughout the year; but that most tend to born either in the spring or the fall. In one pasture that I pass by daily, about five new fall-born calves now romp and stomp daily. The pasture just across the road used to contain about that many spring-born calves. But not anymore; for most of these are now locked up in the barn.
Conventionally, calves are weaned between the ages of 180 to 210 days, or six to seven months. Thus, the calves born in the spring of 2020 are all now undergoing the weaning process here in the fall. And from their perspective, at least, that process must be pretty painful.
It involves locking them up in the barn away from their mothers, where they can no longer have access to their mother’s udders. Instead, they are introduced to a diet of feed and hay. Apparently, as they make this transition, they are forced to undergo agonizing withdrawals, the likes of which few drug addicts have ever known!
For about ten days, they do little more than loudly voice their complaints at a decibel designed to be just high enough for the entire world to hear! The only redeeming quality is that, with each passing day, their level of frustration, along with their resultant objections, decreases, until eventually, once they have finally given up on milk and focused entirely on a diet of plant matter, little complaint is proffered.
Now, it seems to me that all of this has spiritual application. After all, the Apostle Peter, in his First New Testament Letter (chapter 2, verse 2), gives the following admonition: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…” His point is that new believers should learn the essentials of the Christian life by focusing on basic Biblical principles.
But new-born cows were not intended to live indefinitely on milk; and neither were new-born Christians intended to live indefinitely on basic Biblical principles. There comes a time when calves must transition from mere milk to corn, alfalfa, hay, etc... Likewise, there comes a time when new-born believers must transition to a deeper study of God’s Word that produces more than just a rudimentary level awareness of its main characters, stories, and principles.
The Apostle Paul affirms this in his First New Testament Letter to the Corinthians (chapter 3, KJV) when he chides the believers there for not having matured and transitioned from the milk of the word to the meat of the word! Other translations use the term “solid food” rather than “meat”. Either way, Paul’s point is clear. There clearly comes a time when each and every believer should be growing and maturing in their walk with Christ!
Why, then, do so many seem not to be doing this? Famed preacher Vance Havner once reportedly said that the average church is far too full of spiritual “Baby Huies” who do little more than cry and complain because someone dared to change their formula!
Surely all of this raises questions for you and me. First, just how long have claimed to be “born again”? And in light of the answer to that, second, then of what does our spiritual diet consist? Is it milk? Or is it solid food? To what extent does any of this trouble us? And if it does concern us, just how vocal are we about it?
SCRIPTURE SOURCES: https://biblehub.com/1_peter/2-2.htm;
and https://biblehub.com/kjv/1_corinthians/3.htm.
NOTE: “Baby Hughie” was a famous cartoon character who was a giant oversized baby who towered above his playmates.
Cf.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Huey.
SEE ALSO: http://vancehavner.com/;
as well as ttps://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Vance%5EHavner.
I related earlier that Black Angus calves can be born at any time throughout the year; but that most tend to born either in the spring or the fall. In one pasture that I pass by daily, about five new fall-born calves now romp and stomp daily. The pasture just across the road used to contain about that many spring-born calves. But not anymore; for most of these are now locked up in the barn.
Conventionally, calves are weaned between the ages of 180 to 210 days, or six to seven months. Thus, the calves born in the spring of 2020 are all now undergoing the weaning process here in the fall. And from their perspective, at least, that process must be pretty painful.
It involves locking them up in the barn away from their mothers, where they can no longer have access to their mother’s udders. Instead, they are introduced to a diet of feed and hay. Apparently, as they make this transition, they are forced to undergo agonizing withdrawals, the likes of which few drug addicts have ever known!
For about ten days, they do little more than loudly voice their complaints at a decibel designed to be just high enough for the entire world to hear! The only redeeming quality is that, with each passing day, their level of frustration, along with their resultant objections, decreases, until eventually, once they have finally given up on milk and focused entirely on a diet of plant matter, little complaint is proffered.
Now, it seems to me that all of this has spiritual application. After all, the Apostle Peter, in his First New Testament Letter (chapter 2, verse 2), gives the following admonition: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…” His point is that new believers should learn the essentials of the Christian life by focusing on basic Biblical principles.
But new-born cows were not intended to live indefinitely on milk; and neither were new-born Christians intended to live indefinitely on basic Biblical principles. There comes a time when calves must transition from mere milk to corn, alfalfa, hay, etc... Likewise, there comes a time when new-born believers must transition to a deeper study of God’s Word that produces more than just a rudimentary level awareness of its main characters, stories, and principles.
The Apostle Paul affirms this in his First New Testament Letter to the Corinthians (chapter 3, KJV) when he chides the believers there for not having matured and transitioned from the milk of the word to the meat of the word! Other translations use the term “solid food” rather than “meat”. Either way, Paul’s point is clear. There clearly comes a time when each and every believer should be growing and maturing in their walk with Christ!
Why, then, do so many seem not to be doing this? Famed preacher Vance Havner once reportedly said that the average church is far too full of spiritual “Baby Huies” who do little more than cry and complain because someone dared to change their formula!
Surely all of this raises questions for you and me. First, just how long have claimed to be “born again”? And in light of the answer to that, second, then of what does our spiritual diet consist? Is it milk? Or is it solid food? To what extent does any of this trouble us? And if it does concern us, just how vocal are we about it?
SCRIPTURE SOURCES: https://biblehub.com/1_peter/2-2.htm;
and https://biblehub.com/kjv/1_corinthians/3.htm.
NOTE: “Baby Hughie” was a famous cartoon character who was a giant oversized baby who towered above his playmates.
Cf.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Huey.
SEE ALSO: http://vancehavner.com/;
as well as ttps://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Vance%5EHavner.