His lips shut tight as the father brought the spoon to his mouth. When he figured out that he did like something (by way of putting it into his mouth with his fingers), then the father could give him spoonfuls and he would accept them.
Children so many times refuse what is good for them. As parents we must persevere until they take in enough nutritious foods in large enough amounts so that they will grow and be healthy. But seeing the young boy’s refusal of food reminded me of an important spiritual truth. When it comes to the teaching that is fed to us, we must not just open our mouths wide and swallow it all down, but we must stubbornly refuse to accept teaching that is not in harmony with the will of God.
Consider what the author of Hebrews had to say to the Christians he wrote to, “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.” (Heb 5:13-14) As babies progress from milk to meat, so Christians must progress from the basic truths of Christianity to those which are more challenging. Christians will be able to properly understand the harder concepts of the faith because of their experience with the word of God.
Neil Lightfoot, in his commentary on Hebrews, summed this up well- “The senses are sharpened by experience. As an adult does not need someone to stand over him, always reminding him what foods are good and bad to eat, so the adult Christian is able to distinguish good from evil. The latter expression does not refer to good and bad in morals but to good and bad in teaching. It is a mark of maturity to be able to discern truth from error.” (p. 113-14)
Peter warned that some who were themselves spiritual babies would take the meat of the word and distort it to make it say things that God never said. He wrote that their distortion of the Scriptures would result in their own destruction. In view of this, he gave this admonition, “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet 3:15-18)
Hell will be the eternal home of the false teacher. But, hell will also be the eternal home of those they misled. We must be like the Bereans who, even before they were Christians, had the right approach to listening to men teach. They examined the Scriptures daily to see if what they were being taught was so. They did not receive Paul’s teaching until they found it to be true. (Acts 17:11-12) Examine everything you are taught, whether orally or in writing, whether from the pulpit or at your kitchen table, to see if it matches up with the word of God. If what is taught is not from God, keep your lips shut tight and don’t let someone feed it to you. If the teacher has already gotten a taste of the error into your mouth, do as a baby does. If you don’t like it, spit it out!
