Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk…
In looking over Peter’s letter, I get the impression that he is giving us a “Cliff Notes” version of the entire New Testament in a few words. I marvel at the consistency of God’s Word. Whether we look through the lens of Luke, Paul, James, or Peter, the message is consistent.
I’ve helped to raise a couple of amazing young men from when they were very tiny babies, but that doesn’t mean that I am an expert on babies. I do know, however, that there are different kinds of babies. The kind of baby that Peter is talking about is “newborn.”
A newborn baby is helpless. A newborn needs nourishment. A newborn can only tolerate one kind of food. A newborn needs mom’s milk.
It seems to me that Peter is giving us a choice. In verse one he tells us to get rid of malice and lies. In today’s verse, he tells us what to do instead. Get milk. Pure spiritual milk is God Himself. This milk is God’s truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6)
Imagine what your life would be like if you could do what Peter says and get rid of all deceit! Think about the ramifications of that. He is not only talking about the deceit that springs from our own heart. He is also referring to the deceit that we have been taught as fact.
How much of what you think you “know” is true? How would we find out what is “true?”
Here is a strange fact: For every truth (singular, meaning one truth) there is an infinite number of untruths. The human mind is infinitely creative. There are a lot of things we cannot know. So, we guess. We make stuff up. We tell others what we think the answer might be, and then others repeat that as if it were fact. Eventually, hundreds or thousands of opinions make their way into our minds disguised as “truth.”
When Peter says, “…rid yourselves of all malice and deceit…” he is telling us to empty the attic of our minds. When he tells us to crave pure spiritual milk, he tells us what we should fill our minds with.
Application: Drink the Word of God daily. Filling yourself with God’s Word helps to push out the malice and deceit Peter wants us to be rid of.
Food for Thought: What kinds of things might make spiritual milk less than pure?
James 1: 27 tells us to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. The world pollutes us when we allow it to have center stage. When we make it a regular part of our diet, it pollutes the pure spiritual milk. A good summation comes in 1 John 2: 15 – 17: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Thank you, Rich.
Pollution isn’t just an environmental problem. It is a spiritual problem as well. One with eternal consequences!
I agree with Rich, this world is man’s home, in direct opposition to God.
Anything other than pure spiritual milk will contaminate the purity.
Sin will remove the craving for spiritual milk,
Our sinful nature: pride, envy, self-righteousness, denial, frustration, anger, resentment, self-justification, unbelief, will all fight against our craving for pure spiritual milk.
Satan will, seek to deceive, tempt us away by offering alternatives to spiritual milk.
Genesis 3:22, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.
‘We have knowledge of good and evil and to say there is no such thing as good and evil is to deny reality. Satan has convinced the multitude of evil being good and good being evil and the closer it comes to our Savior’s return, the more he will deceive.
Ephesians 6:12, 2 Corinthians 10:5, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 5:4
Thank you, Ron!
I appreciate your point about sin removing our craving for spiritual milk. It is interesting how the human body can be acclimated to different tastes. Sometimes learning to like something that is good for us is a matter of training our body to like it. Exercise might be one example. Eating our vegetables might be another.
Great verses, too! Here is a link to them.
I appreciate & agree w/ all that’s been shared. I would only add that we are to put aside these things by the nourishing of milk, so that we can grow thereby, able to sustain strong meat!
“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” – 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (KJV)
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” – Hebrews 5:12 (KJV)
We need the milk, or the basic teachings, and when we are not rid of the things of the flesh, like envy, strife, divisions, etc, we are showing how we are not even being nourished up in the most basic elements of our faith. We can look through Hebrews to see more specifically some of the doctrines & teachings that are compared.
I encourage each of us to continue to grow here, but let us also set our sights on the fact that there is yet a higher manifestation that we can aim to achieve. This is especially helpful for me, because a good runner knows not to look at his feet, but to the horizon.
On a more personal note, I have to be incredibly careful w/ where I spend my time, as I tend to get sucked into whatever I am about. It’s like I’m always going 100 mph, & the second I change my gaze, I will cover a lot of ground, for better or for worse towards that heading.
Lactose intolerance is the self centered excuse to try say I believe without actually showing your faith in your everyday actions.
Hmmm…
All I can say is that this is a souper comment! 🙂
👍🏻