Friday 27 March 2009

As newborn babes

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, - 1 Peter 2v1-2 

You ever watch a new born baby? Most of us have. Did you notice how little time a new born has to be mean, deceitful, hypocritical, and envious? Did you notice how little time they have for speaking evil about other people? If a new born is awake they are normally after one thing – milk. In those first few days and weeks they are growing at a phenomenal rate and that growth requires nourishment that only milk provides. 

Peter uses this perfect illustration to tell us how we are to behave. If we truly desire to grow we will be hungry for the milk of His word because that is the only way we are going to grow. If we are that desirous for the word we won’t have time for the stuff that usually occupies our time. We won’t have time for malice. We won’t have time for deceitful living. We won’t have time for hypocrisy. We won’t have time for envy. And we certainly won’t have time for evil speaking. 

We should desire God’s word with the same intensity that drives a new born to scream for his milk. Our hunger should be so deep that it becomes overwhelming. If it did we would not have to worry about the nonsense above. 

We have a huge advantage over that baby. When that baby is hungry all she can do is scream until someone feeds her. All we have to do is pick up our Bibles and read. We can go to church to hear it taught. We can study it with others. We can listen to sermons online. We are never at a loss for that milk. If we are not fed, for most of the world today at least, it is our own fault. 

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