The story is told of a thrifty man who one day decided to save money on donkey feed.
Every day, he would add increasing amounts of sawdust into the donkey’s feed. Because the
process was gradual, the donkey did not notice any difference as he cleaned up his manger. The
man’s plan was working well, until the donkey suddenly died because of living on 100%
sawdust.
Similarly, spiritual food that contains the pure Word of God, once mixed with worldly
sawdust [watered-down or social gospel], will eventually lead to spiritual death (2 Peter 2). It is
indeed sad to see some members of the church act as though they cannot understand why so
many spiritually malnourished Christians die [abandon the Lord’s church] even after being
members of the church for many years.
The Psalmist tells us that God’s word is a “lamp” to the feet and a “light” to one’s
pathway (Psalm 119:105; cf. Proverbs 6:23). However, how can members of the Lord’s body
make application of that “light” in their everyday living, if they remain ignorant of that light
(Hebrews 5:12-14)? What is the use of chiding weak Christians about their little faith, if
spiritually strong Christians do not teach them enough of the pure Word for them to be able to
develop strong faith (Psalm 51:12-13; Romans 10:17; 2 Tim. 2:1-2).
All of the church pep-rallies, sermons, and lectures about Christian duty, won’t do much
good for weak-in- the-faith Christians, until they are taught the pure word of God (Proverbs 30:5;
Psalm 19:7-8).
Brethren, if there is any sawdust in our spiritual diet, we need to get rid of it, and start
feeding our spiritually weak brethren, the pure “milk” of the Word (1 Peter 2:2), gradually
bringing them up to the “strong meat” of the Word (Hebrews 5:14, KJV), so they might grow
into spiritually mature workers for the Lord and His church (1 Peter 2:1 -2; Ephesians 4:11-16;
2 Peter 3:18; Colossians 1:3-10).

Mike Riley, via gewatkins.net
via Chambersburg church of Christ,
Chambersburg, PA