Like a Newborn

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

1 Peter 2:1-3

Peter is summing up his discussion in the first chapter and transitioning into the next section in these three verses.  There’s some good stuff here…

You will recall from last time that Peter has reminded us of our salvation, and how we have been purified from our sins and now it’s time to live as followers of Jesus by loving one another.  Therefore, we need to rid ourselves of the old ways, and he mentions several things that we should no longer harbor or practice. I’m sure (or at least I hope) that I don’t need to elaborate on malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy or slander; we can move on to the “good stuff.”

Like newborn babies… Can you think of what a newborn baby is, that we were not, but now are in Christ?  (Hint: We covered this in the last post)

Newborn babies are innocent. Now that our sin has been taken away by the blood of Christ, we are as innocent as a newborn.  So, Peter uses a metaphor, a baby’s milk.  Peter says:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

We’ve received so much already from our relationship with Jesus; crave more!  Seek out His Truth in your relationship with Him.  Dig into a healthy portion of His Word, pray unceasingly and seek His guidance, asking Him always to grow in your being so that in all things you do, your walk with Him will grow closer.  Form the habit of seeking His presence and His Word so that your testimony to the lost will give Him glory… and do all of this because you love Him and remember that we love one another because He loves all of us.