Walking with the Wise #210: Milk to Meat

“The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,

but the mouths of fools feed on folly.” 

—Proverbs 15:14

Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are more valuable than diamonds and precious treasure. The one who is wise is wealthier than the one who has billions in his bank account. Money is a seductive mistress, but she is a poor mother. Wisdom is far different. Although she may not be the most attractive one in the room at first, she is the most faithful, prudent, discerning, compassionate and will bless you with joy and happiness.

Those who seek to understand will seek to know more, but don’t confuse information with knowledge. Information is just that, that which informs. It doesn’t teach how to life. Not so with knowledge. The Bible portrays knowledge as learning what pleases God, and wisdom is doing it and learning from it as one goes about living life. The truly wise are always seeking to understand how to live, how to organize and order one’s life so as to bring God glory. They want to learn from those who have gone before, how to live successfully, how to persevere despite hardship, and how to have victory. They are looking at those who have persevered and won. Not so with fools. Fools care not for what they can learn from others. Instead they are intoxicated by their own opinion, duped by their own reason and deceived by their heart (cf. Jeremiah 17:9).

As Jesus’ followers, we must set our hearts to understand. To seek to learn, to grow “like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation”—1 Peter 2:2. We want to grow up into our salvation. We begin by drinking the spiritual milk, but we are not to stay drinking only milk. We must grow into maturity, learning from the “cloud of witnesses” (cf. Hebrews 12:1-3) who have gone before us, as the Bible says,

“…for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil”—Hebrews 5:13-14.

May we truly learn to discern good from evil, growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we might grow in godliness and in giving God glory so that the name of Jesus will resound among the nations—for God’s glory and joy. Amen.