1 Peter 2:2-3

I’ve always liked to drink milk. Even now as an adult, I still am fond of a glass of milk every now and again. But there is only one way (in my humble, but accurate opinion) to drink it. It has to be really cold. Anything less than that is no good. The taste changes. But that’s me being picky. I have the option to drink it however I desire. Peter in our passage here gives us a fascinating illustration that I find ever so relatable yet, so simple it’s easy to miss. Lets break it down a little:

“Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word,” If you have ever been a parent, you most likely know what a hungry infant looks like. The cries and the screams are quick to alert you that they are hungry. And if the cries don’t give it away, the way an infant will search for its source of food should. One of the funniest memories I have from when my son was an infant is him trying to latch on to me a few times. He would be hungry and in my arms and would suck on my finger, or my shirt or anything he could get near his mouth. Obviously they were all the wrong sources of what he truly wanted, but his desire was so strong, he sought it out with everything he could.

Look at Peter’s words here; just like an infant desires milk. That word “desires” in the original Greek means to “to strain after, greatly desire, long for, to yearn for”. Think of the smallest infant. It knows that it needs milk to sustain its life. It is going to look for it where ever it can. It “needs” it, craves it, has to have it. It is at that level in which we should want God’s word. We should long to fill our lives with it because it is indeed the only source of spiritual nutrition that will sustain us. But look at the second half of the verse; “…that you may grow up into your salvation.” Babies haven’t changed in the way they grow since this letter was written. Babies need nutrition to grow; our spiritual lives need nutrition to grow. Just as babies get their nutrition from milk, we get our spiritual nutrition from God’s word. That makes a lot of sense doesn’t it? Like I said, it’s not a complex teaching of the Bible. But I want to ask you…how grown up are you?

See I think the truth is, we can see what Peter is saying here and say “well of course that’s how it works” but then when it comes time to actually live that way and apply it to our lives, all of a sudden we have all kinds of reasons why we don’t. Just like I only like my milk a certain way, we have excuses for why we aren’t letting God’s word feed us. We’re not craving it like we should. And so often what happens is we find that we aren’t growing into our salvation or into our faith, and we begin to question why. It’s because of instead of craving what our spirit needs for nutrition, we’re filling it with junk instead. See infants can’t choose what they want to eat. They don’t know any better. What they know is what is good for them. What will help them grow. What will sustain them. As adults, we get to choose what we fill ourselves with. I’m afraid (and am guilty of) though we more often fill ourselves with junk that doesn’t sustain, doesn’t help us grow, doesn’t give life.

But like Peter says here, quoting Psalm 34, when we drink in the word and truly crave it – like we can’t get enough of it – then we see that the Lord is good and we need Him more.

My challenge for you this evening is to examine your heart. Is your desire for God’s word at this level? Do you realize the necessity for life that it holds in your spiritual walk with the Lord? Are you craving God’s word or letting your spirit be filled with junk food?

God Bless!

Brother Sam