Being a follower of Jesus, put simply, is a process in which we retrain our brain to follow our spirit, rather than our flesh. It is our natural inclination as "sons of Adam" to follow what our flesh wants and to live in sin, but when we decide to follow Jesus we become "sons of Christ." That means that everything changes in the way we view life and process information. We process through what we know the word of God says rather than what we see in front of us with earthly eyes.
1 Peter 2:1-3 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (ESV)
1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. (ESV)
Ephesians 4:13-14 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. (NIV)
Hebrews 5:12-13 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (NIV)
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? (NIV)
When you first become a believer, you are an infant in your spirit. The Bible often makes comparisons to new believers and babies. Think about an infant who has to learn everything from scratch. They don't start by learning the complicated things, but the simple stuff of life. They don't come out of the womb eating steaks and lobster, but milk. It is much the same process for us coming into the knowledge of Jesus. It may be even more difficult when we have to unlearn the things that used to come naturally to our flesh!
That all being said, we all need to be careful what we fill ourselves up with. Especially in the beginning of your journey with Jesus, it is critical that you be aware of what is from God and what is not because it doesn't come naturally. Paul tells us to crave "pure spiritual milk" and to become infants in evil but mature in Christ. This means that we shouldn't be seeking to know all the details of what Satan is doing, but desiring to know what Jesus is doing! Do not seek out evil even to confront it. Seek out the Lord and take authority of the evil that stands in your way!
Look around you today and what you are surrounding yourself with. What environments do you put yourself in? Even for the sake of "ministry" we should not be putting ourselves in places that make us mature in the ways of evil. Bring others into a safe environment to be ministered to. Desire the pure spiritual milk of God and be infants to the evils of the world.
1 Peter 2:1-3 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (ESV)
1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. (ESV)
Ephesians 4:13-14 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. (NIV)
Hebrews 5:12-13 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (NIV)
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? (NIV)
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