MILK + MEAT

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work."

God is a provider, a provider with a mission. The mission of the kingdom of God is the proliferation of blessing. Our lives are stocked by God with grace so that we become storehouses for those that would benefit from the blessings we have been given. Every blessing comes stamped with a name and God has a plan for the deliverance of that package to become your purpose. The verse above, 2 Corinthians 9:8, reminds us of that fact. God ensures that grace abounds toward us, not so that we can stockpile it, but so that we have sufficient product for our every good work. So that our ability to distribute is a net that can be cast far and wide.

So, if God is our provider, and provides with purpose, what does He provide? 

Milk and meat.

It would be easy to extract only half of the message from the above verse; in it, we learn that God will provide abundantly. That message, would be the milk of the verse, so to speak. But the meat of the message is the culmination of the verse; the meat is that we are given to... in order that we may give. 

Eventually, we must graduate from the elementary stage of faith; We must not nurse forever as infants, novices, when we should be advancing in faith. Every piece of scripture is like the opening verse in that it has deeper meaning, and is packed with purpose God plans for us to claim and fulfill. Meat He intends for us to eat after the preliminary provision of milk.

NEWBORN

At the beginning of our journey of faith, we are newly born to a lifestyle. "As newborns", 1 Peter 2:2 implores us, "desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow...". God provides milk for the newly born to faith; He grows us as if infants, sustained exclusively on His philosophy. For as newborns in the faith, we have cut off our former source: the philosophy of the world. 

For God's philosophy is entirely opposite the world's. Therefore everything is new:  new concepts, new character, new methods, new values. Scripture was designed for that newness; we read of the lives of many in the Bible who undertook that journey as well. Steadily, we learn about trust and perseverance and how messy that journey can be from people like Sarah and Joseph. We learn about hope and courage from people like Abraham and Moses who had to learn it too with no reference point beyond the milk, the word of God.

1 Peter 2:5 states that God is building us up like a house; His provision is meant not just to sustain but to build, to grow. We are taught His philosophy not simply so that we know it but so that we can apply it. The milk will set you up, but the meat will send you out.

MILK VERSUS MEAT

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Paul explained that he had to alter his preaching; he preached to the newly born in faith, though they were not new, rather than to spiritual people fed by the meat of scripture. Paul was dismayed that he had to do so, dismayed that so many refused to live beyond the elementary principles. They were not engaged or focused or in alignment with this one philosophy, this distinctive philosophy of God.

Surely the milk of scripture is a comfort that cannot be compared, but the meat of scripture is a duty that cannot be neglected. The milk grows us, but the meat is given so that we may grow others. The milk is an introduction to the spirit in which we live, but the meat is the spirit through which we work. With the milk we change ourselves but with the meat we change our world.

Once God's provision constructs us, we must recognize that we were made to house. We are made strong for a purpose. We are stocked to provide. We are made a shelter so that we can stand in the rain with the soaking and make them dry. The meat is meant to sustain us through more spiritually rugged terrain. With milk God fixes what needs reparation inside of us so that with meat we are to fix what needs reparation outside of us, surrounding us. 

GRADUATION 

At a certain point, God should not have to teach us to play nice anymore. That should be a given. He should not have to prove His promises to us. He should not have to work for our trust, He should have it. He should not have to remind of His commandments, we should know them and follow them. At a certain point, scripture should evolve from lesson to directive. We should evolve from apprentices to fellow-workers with God. God does not teach us so that we can watch Him, He teaches us so that we can join Him.

Paul wrote a letter, Hebrews 5:12-14, in which he admonished the people who were unwilling to graduate from milk to meat.

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Are you unskilled in the word of righteousness? If so, it is not through any fault of God. Scripture has been divinely commissioned, written and organized to exercise you into skillfulness. It is time to graduate from milk to meat. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that our battle is against powers and principalities, and how can we fight such things without the meat God provides? We would be too weak, too undernourished to ever stand. It is time to bulk up because that abundance of strength and power, courage and faith has purpose to fulfill. 

You would not feed a newborn meat; they could not handle it. Neither could a full grown adult subsist merely on milk. To do so would be to expect too much of the former and not enough of the latter. So if you are reading scripture merely for yourself, you are neglecting your potential and purpose. God has provided hardier fuel so that your life has the power, the energy, the provision to extend beyond itself.

FITTING OUT THE SHIP

"Fitting out" a ship means putting in everything a ship needs, both to carry passengers and to power the vessel." Stephanie Sabol  

The phrase "fitting out the ship" has a spiritual application. All of the work God does for and within you, is meant to provide you with everything you need, both to carry others and to power you, a vessel for the Holy Spirit. For waters of the world are turbulent, and only a skilled navigator and fitted ship can chart them.

The process through which God prepares, stocks, and powers you is less affectionately known as discipline. Discipline is something we naturally resist. Discipline forces us to bend against our will, decide against our preferences, and push beyond our limits. During its process, discipline feels more like punishment than benefit. Yet discipline, strenuous and unpleasant though it is, is a process for which we should be grateful; Hebrews 12:5-6; Proverbs 3:11-12 explain:

"... do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every child whom he receives."

If we are to be "fitted out" or, disciplined, by God, we should understand how, why and the way to endure (perhaps even appreciate) the process. 

THE SHIP

Every person is a vessel; mind and limbs and entire body work to exert an individual's will in the world. The same is true for a child of God, but there is an emphatic tweak: our mind and limbs and entire body work to exert God's will in the world. We abandon our own, or at least, we try to as, throughout our lives, we submit further to His will. We do so because we trust His above our own. We trust His foresight, we have confidence in His power, and we believe in His purposes over anyone else's. 

But if we are truly going to be vessels of the Holy spirit, ships navigating the waters of the world according to His purposes, we need to be built spiritually robust. Just as it would be unpleasant to be hammered, carved and sanded, so can it be unpleasant to be lectured, thwarted, or made to fail.

If God did not love us, He would leave us to our own devices. The end of humanity would be a quick and cruel process done to itself. But He does love us, very much, and if He is to yield the "peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 11:11)" within us we have to be disciplined. You will recognize discipline by this taste: humble pie. You will recognize discipline by this emotion: shame. You will recognize discipline by this outcome: failure.

None of us like to relive the moments when we were humbled, ashamed, or defeated. But God exploits those moments. He makes full use of them, using our pain and frustration as a site to be surveyed, analyzed, dug into. In such emotionally intense, raw states it is easiest to see the connections between cause and effect, action and reaction and most of all: the futility of living for selfish purposes. 

Once we learn how the wrong motivations lead to the wrong decisions and how the wrong decisions lead to the wrong outcomes, it is easier to release our selfish purposes. And sometimes, when we actually do receive the outcome we thought we wanted, we realize it is not what we should have wanted at all. We realize that it does not provide the joy or even contentedness we thought it would. When that happens, it's easier to grab onto the truth that "your Father knows what you need" (Matthew 6:8)" and that maybe you really don't.

That release (of selfish purposes) and that grab (onto truth) are crucial to the ships form, to your form. They are the difference between sinking and staying afloat. 

THE WATERS

In scripture, tribulation is often symbolized by water:

• Psalm 69:1-2 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.
• Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
• Lamentations 3:54 the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.
• Psalm 18:16-17 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

Your relationship with God, your willingness to submit to His discipline, prepares you for the plight of those deep and turbulent waters. If we are to be vessels of the Holy spirit, it simply will not due for us to give up, give in, get angry, or go astray. But without practice, we will give up. Without the process of building strength, you will give in. Without being singed by the flames of anger, we will burn from anger. Without the proper mooring to the philosophy of God, we will go astray.

We have to experience those things in order to extract their essential oils, the elements of them that make us strong and wise in faith, selfless in body and soul. But it requires discipline to utilize those moments; because when you are broken or ashamed, you are reluctant to submit yourself to constructive criticism or to consider consequence a valuable lesson. Because although water gives us life, we are not exactly cognizant or grateful for that as it rushes toward us or threatens to rise above our heads.

You are a ship because you are in the waters; and if you are a ship in the waters, you need to be fitted out. Otherwise, your tribulation will sink you. In character. In spirit. In life. No matter who you are, more than once in your life a wave will go over your head and send you crashing down. That moment will either be an end or a beginning: your demise, or your first day of training.

THE CARGO

It is through our trials that we become stocked with the cargo we need in order to be properly fitted out. Through trials, God provides opportunity to build spiritual muscle, the true strength that is: patience and endurance, courage, character and hope. The most important cargo a ship could carry; the products that persevere us through the waters.

Trials: some are different, many are the same, though caused by different circumstances for each individual. Our trials are the things we have to either cope with or surrender to, the happen within us: our insecurities, our losses, loneliness, sadness and fear. Our temper our greed, our temptation, pride and anxiety. But the weariness, the fainthearted-ness they birth within us, are conquerable.

The loneliness and loss teach us to value people not things, to nourish them and host them well when they come; to build attentive and empathetic relationships. The fear gives us opportunity to learn what we care about enough to choose courage. The sadness encourages us to explore for reprieve from sorrow. The anxiety causes us to inquire of peace and its attainability. The temptation teaches us that we are leashed until we deny it enough to set ourselves free. The insecurity causes us to question the context of our culture and to make corrections. All of those things could snuff us out, but instead let them light a fire. Disciplining ourselves to re-purpose our trial's power in our lives helps us to build the cargo we need to survive any storm that brews in the waters. 

We conquer those sea beasts by remembering that as a child of God, there is hope. There is breakthrough. There is purpose. We conquer our trials by remembering that endings are beginnings, if we pray them to be. And that is the most precious cargo of all: faith. 

We are ships in the sea, in the world, but in heaven we are God's cargo and He protects us with His life. He prepares us with every skill and piece of wisdom He has. We are made able navigate the choppy waters because we have been supplied with the necessary elements to do so.

Romans 3:3-4 tells us to "glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope." Paul told us to, as children of God, notice a storm brewing on the sea and glory in it. He told us to strengthen our legs, lift up our hands, and to walk straightforward. He wanted us to realize that the love and strength of God within us is more than enough to see a storm and strengthen, as spiritual discipline taught us to do. To be ready, to be brave. Every storm is a chance to be charted; and as a fitted out ship, you can chart it. Trust the process of discipline because each stage produces a new product, a more refined you.

Someone else might see a storm on the horizon and fall. Someone else might find themselves in the midst of a storm and fail. But as a child of God, see a storm and resolve to fight. You've been fitted for the fight.