God's Coaching #262

God's Coaching #262

Holy cow! It’s competitive cow milking! Yup, you heard that correctly. Although competitive cow milking sounds “udderly” ridiculous, to some people it is “moo-sic” to their ears. Okay, enough bad cow jokes. Did you know that companies sell cow-milking games for birthday parties? One business sells a fake, life-size cow named “Ol’ Bessie,” featuring a replica udder that, according to a website, “can be played by one person using a timer or two contestants in ‘hand to hand’ combat.”

Competitive cow milking isn’t just for birthday parties, though. The Charleston RiverDogs, a minor league baseball team in South Carolina, holds a cow-milking contest each year during their “Dairy Day” promotion. And the Tennessee State Fair has taken competitive cow milking to another level. The fair, which started in 1906, added its first cow-milking contest in 2010. That year, four two-person teams consisting of TV and radio personalities from stations around central Tennessee competed on four cows. Each team had four minutes (two minutes per person) to squeeze as much milk as possible into a bucket. The winning team received “The Golden Udder” trophy. If that’s not a sweet prize, what is?

What’s the Score?

Milk was no laughing matter to the writer of the book of Hebrews. His readers were immature, acting like spiritual infants. So he used a food-and-milk analogy to describe their juvenile faith: “You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food” (Hebrews 5:12). In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul used the same word picture to describe the childish Christians in Corinth.

Like newborn children, all Christians start with baby food. We must learn the basics of the faith—like believing that God created all things, that the Bible is the true Word of God, that Jesus is the only way to heaven, etc. But like children, we should grow in our faith in God and our obedience to him. God doesn’t want us to remain baby Christians. He wants mature followers who truly understand what it means to love and worship him. How do we do this? Read the Bible and pray every day. Attend a Bible-believing church each week. Make good Christian friends. Ask trusted adults your spiritual questions. Do what it takes to keep growing in godliness!

On the Ball

Challenge yourself to grow spiritually by committing to an annual Bible reading or memorization plan.

Coach’s Comment

Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. Hebrews 5:14