Try the Steak

Hebrews 5:8-6:2

“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.” (Hebrews 5:8-10)

In order to truly represent us, it was necessary for Christ to experience temptation like we do, to experience the fear of death, the physical pain, and the sense of separation from God. He was not perfectly complete as a human until he experienced these things as well, and could not thus serve as a satisfactory priest. As God, when he had experienced them, he could fulfill the priest’s office forever as he would not die. The implications of this are tremendous. Unfortunately, many have settled for only the most basic teachings, never understanding what this means to those who believe in him. Several times, I have been told “you just can’t understand the book of Hebrews.” Notice the author’s comments.

“Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14)

Most parents have experienced trying to introduce solid food to a baby and having him spit it out. It doesn’t taste or feel just like what he is used to, and his taste buds need to adjust to the new experience. Some parents decide the child doesn’t like it, and stop giving it to him so they don‘t have to deal with the mess. Others get angry , but a few realize that it is just a new experience, and he needs to get used to the new sensations. If he is given a taste several times, he will learn to tolerate, and often to like what he is given. If he is never given any more, he learns not to try new things, and becomes a picky eater.

Picky eaters usually have very poor diets, because they eat such a small variety of foods. They miss many of the required nutrients, resulting in abnormal growth patterns. A child who eats little other than milk tends to be larger and fatter than normal because milk has high concentrations of nutrients to promote growth. It has a low concentration of strength building nutrients however, and the large size is counterbalanced by underdeveloped muscles. Other picky eaters may be undersized and hyper active because they tend to eat a surplus of sweets and starches, and not eating enough protein. By not continuing to give a variety and helping the child to learn to like more things, the parents deprive him of a much richer life.

One of my relatives had grown up as a picky eater, reaching the point where he ate only hamburgers and French fries. He married a young lady who had grown up eating a variety of foods. For several weeks, she cooked hamburgers because he refused to eat anything else. She reached a point where she couldn’t stand the thought of another hamburger, and fixed something else. He refused to eat it and told her that if she wouldn’t fix what he wanted, he’d go to his mom’s to eat. She called his mom and told her that if she fed him, he wasn’t to come back, she wasn’t going to compete with his mother. His mom decided she didn’t want to be in that position so refused to feed him. For about six weeks, his wife cooked whatever she wanted.

One night she decided she was craving a hamburger, so she cooked hamburgers and French fries. Her husband wanted to know why she hadn’t cooked something fit to eat. The problem had not been that he didn’t like other things, he’d just never tried them enough to find out he liked them. His mother had found it easier to give him hamburgers and french fries than to provide a balanced diet. He’d never enjoyed a baked potato, or an ear of corn. He’d never eaten roast beef, or fried chicken, or the various vegetables.

Besides missing the rich variety of tastes, he had also missed a huge variety of nutrients. The process of chopping the meat destroys certain nutrients, and frying destroys others, with the result that a hamburger has somewhat less nutrients than the piece of roast beef. If the roast is cooked with the bone in it, it will provide nearly four times as much calcium as a boneless piece of meat. the same is true for a steak. Meat from an older, grass fed cow will provide thirty percent more nutrients, and less fat than a corn fed cow but the meat tends to be tougher and have a different taste, so most steaks and hamburger comes from corn fed cattle. Many people avoid ribs because they are messy, and tough. They also provide more calcium than any other part of the meat, and the more you chew the bones the more you get. The connective tissue is largely composed of calcium and protein that are not found in other meat. The extra effort to eat them is nutritionally rewarding.

The recipients of this letter have become spiritually picky eaters, and it has hampered their spiritual development. Though they have been Christians long enough to be teachers and examples to others, they still have to have some one else take care of them instead. They’ve missed most of what was available. To get to where they need to be, it will be necessary to stop lay aside the doctrines they have always focused on and look at something different. They will need to have the milk taken completely away like weaning a baby, to force them to try other food. They probably will not like it at first.

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.” (Hebrews 6:1-3)

While they are the very basis of being a Christian, we can never become mature Christians on a steady diet of salvation messages, of messages about sin and our need to put it out of our lives, about the need for baptism or how to get the Holy Spirit. While the Lord will surely come again, and judge the world, teaching about prophecy will never produce mature Christians either. The author implies that these are baby food, essential for new Christians, but not sufficient for the development or maintenance of mature Christians. The goal is to focus on the strong meat of the word which will enable the people to become strong, mature Christians through the rest of the book.

Doing so will be somewhat like eating the ribs, where one has to gnaw the bones and chew much harder to get very much food, but when it is finished will be so spiritually rewarding. If you wish to be a strong Christian, you will need to put forth the effort.

Care to come along? I’ll never forget the first time we gave my son a soft piece of bacon. He tore into it like he’d never had anything so good. There was no way we could get him to trade it for his bottle or anything else. You may find strong meat the same way when you try it.