City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)

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. ² I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. ³ You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (NIV)

Reflection

There is a strong correlation between living in the world and a weak foundation in faith.

Babies are born into this world with the inability to handle anything but the nutritional milk from the mother. They stay on this diet for six months before they can slowly transition to solid food. It takes time, but as babies grow older, they should not stay on a diet of milk. They need to eventually move to solid food and a diet of their own. So to is how we should grow in our Christian faith. At first we may only know the basics of what we believe, but we have to build up and grow by setting a foundation of principles and values that are founded on the Bible.

There are too many Christians in this world that stay on a diet of milk. They live as if accepting Jesus into their lives is having crossed the finish line. When they go back into the world and live as if nothing has changed, the rains come, and their wavering foundation staggers and falls over.

It is important to move away from a diet of milk and to a diet of solid food. You do this by growing in your faith through prayer, meditation, reading the Word, and many other spiritual disciplines. If you do not, your foundation will falter and waiver.

Application

I look back in my life some twenty years ago and see how I had a hard time building on my foundation of Christ. Believing in God wasn’t enough as I would find days where I had to rethink why I believed what I did. I realized that just trusting God was real through apologetics wasn’t enough. There was a sense of need to study His Word and developing a personal relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul says that one has to live by the Spirit. It takes heart AND mind, not just one or the other.

Building a solid foundation in faith requires continuous dedication to spiritual disciplines. How are you focusing on your diet of solid food this week? Are you letting the influences of the world dictate your life and put cracks in your foundation? If so, take time to move away from the milk that you have been feeding on for years. It is time.

Prayer

Father in heaven, help me to build on my foundation of You! Let me not be tossed to and fro by the world, but to live by Your Holy Spirit. Help me build on the spiritual disciplines by praying, meditating, and reading Your Word. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.