Spiritual Vegetarians

     I was listening to a Keith Green CD in my car the other day and To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice came on. (Click post title to listen) When Keith sang about thriving on milk but rejecting meat the term spiritual vegetarians came to mind. Before we go any further I am not knocking vegetarians--it's just a term that came to mind. I'm not sure what Keith or even Paul in his letter to the Corinthian Church exactly means by milk and meat. I think it is this: milk is the easy stuff of the gospel to digest. Salvation, peace, Heaven waiting. Meat is a bit hard to digest if you will: denying self, discipline, obedience.
    We are called baby Christians when we come to the faith and it is fine to thrive on milk but we are also expected to grow. Just as a human can not grow by only giving its body milk, spiritually we can not grow if we do not chew on the issues and get into the Word. But we are content to go to church on Sunday, crack open our Bibles (which we leave in the car during the week) and rely on the book index tabs to find the scripture because we don't know our Bible. The Bible is God's Autobiography. How are we to know Him if we don't read and study and scratch our heads in wonder once in a while?
     As good and as educated as they may be we cannot expect our pastors to be our sole source of nourishment. You wouldn't eat once a week. You wouldn't call your spouse once a week and not give him or her a second thought the rest of the time. We are called the bride of Christ but are we acting like it? The traditional wedding vow is to love, honor and obey and that is to be our vow to Christ. We can't obey if we don't know what He expects of us and that my friend is the meat of our relationship. It isn't always easy but it will be worth it.
     When it comes to my faith I want a well balanced meal: meat, potatoes and vegetables washed down with a cool glass of promises (milk).