There are past mistakes that members of the Lord’s church have made, which have contributed to an anemic, dwarfed discipleship. One of the saddest mistakes of all, is baptizing a believer in Christ, and then leaving him or her to struggle with temptations and perplexing questions alone. That is nothing short of spiritual cruelty and inhuman treatment.Our society rises up in arms when it hears of starving children and violations of human rights, but Christians dispassionately watch new-born babes in Christ slowly die from spiritual malnutrition or suffocate from the stifling smokescreen of error and pacify their conscience by saying, “Well, I guess they didn’t have the character and fortitude it takes to be a Christian.”
Beloved, how can we possibly think that a new-born babe in Christ can grow without the sincere milk of the word and our personal nurturing? (1 Peter 2:1-2; cf. Acts 18:9-11; 1 Corinthians 4:15; Gal. 4:19; Colossians 1:3-10). Would we ever be so hard and cruel as to expect an infant who cannot yet walk, to walk to the table and eat with the family? Would we ever say to a baby who cannot yet crawl, much less walk, “The food is ready, come and get it?”
Is this not what is done when we say to new converts, “You are now supposed to come to Bible study and assemble with the brethren to worship,” but yet deny them the much needed daily spiritual care and feeding essential to their existence and growth? Certainly, the new convert needs to worship with the saints (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:25), but he or she also needs the daily care and feeding (teaching and training) supplied by the more spiritually mature disciples (Acts 5:42).
There can be no substitute for the caring, sharing and feeding of babes in Christ when their spiritual appetite is strong, fresh and keen. However, if the new-born babe experiences indifference and negligence from the congregation, beware, for he will become like the examples he sees – how sad is that scene to contemplate! Beloved, may it never be so! Each brother and sister in Christ has a responsibility to help the those who are "weak" (Romans 15:1-2; cf. 1 Corinthians 9:19-22; 1 Corinthians 10:24; 1 Corinthians 10:33; Philippians 2:1-4).
The fact of the matter is, the more we as members of the Lord’s church care, encourage and teach new converts, the stronger the Lord’s church will become (Ephesians 4:11-16). Do we want to see the Lord’s church grow? Then we need to “feed the church of God” (Acts 20:28). A part of that feeding is accomplished when we lovingly nurture babes in Christ.
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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