Word@Work 1Pet17 - 1 Peter 2:2-3
Published: Tue, 05/19/09
Word@Work from BeaconLight
FOOD FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
1 Peter 2:2-3 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. (NIV)
Babies cannot look after themselves. Without care and food they will not survive. Milk is a part of God's provision; designed to arrive as the new born gets hungry. Certainly a good drink of pure milk helps the infant to learn relationship, be contented and to sleep well; but its main purpose is to supply calories and the raw materials for building a healthy body. Peter uses this analogy for Christians who are 'born again' into God's family (cf John 3:3-18). All believers in Jesus Christ need regular spiritual food from the Bible, if they are to grow and stay healthy.
In the same way that a cry for milk is a sign of a healthy baby, the newborn Christian should be hungry to receive truth from God. So, an appetite for reading the Bible, and having it explained, is a very good sign of growing as a Christian. As we get the taste for His truth, and put it into practice; we should get hungry for more of His Word (cf Ps 34:8). Although it would be nice to think that all Christians are keen to explore the deep truths of the Scripture, the worldly believer has little appetite for that (cf 1 Cor 3:1-2). Apathy towards reading the Bible is a sign of spiritual sickness, or spiritual anorexia.
What could cause such a sickness? Either we have wandered away from Jesus and have forgotten the taste of truth; or we have refused to obey the truth we have received; or we are more concerned to create an image for ourselves, than to accept the privilege of growing into the image of Christ. Or we have not been born into God's family at all (and are still locked into our sins). The remedy is to come to Jesus in repentance and faith (click onto www.crosscheck.org.uk if you are not sure what this means), choose to obey the truth you already know, and get back to regular spiritual meals as you read God's Word. Hopefully, Word@Work is already stirring your hunger to grow up more into Christ. Share this with one or two work colleagues; it may be just what they need.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for providing me with all I need to grow up in Your family. Forgive me when I have valued my own ideas more than Your Word. I know that I can only grow up properly as a child of God if I accept and obey your Word. So please give me a renewed appetite for the purity of the Bible, and its ability to show me how to become like Jesus. For His Name's sake. Amen.
You can read the verses around this Bible passage from the Internet Bible: - in English, and many other languages
Babies cannot look after themselves. Without care and food they will not survive. Milk is a part of God's provision; designed to arrive as the new born gets hungry. Certainly a good drink of pure milk helps the infant to learn relationship, be contented and to sleep well; but its main purpose is to supply calories and the raw materials for building a healthy body. Peter uses this analogy for Christians who are 'born again' into God's family (cf John 3:3-18). All believers in Jesus Christ need regular spiritual food from the Bible, if they are to grow and stay healthy.
In the same way that a cry for milk is a sign of a healthy baby, the newborn Christian should be hungry to receive truth from God. So, an appetite for reading the Bible, and having it explained, is a very good sign of growing as a Christian. As we get the taste for His truth, and put it into practice; we should get hungry for more of His Word (cf Ps 34:8). Although it would be nice to think that all Christians are keen to explore the deep truths of the Scripture, the worldly believer has little appetite for that (cf 1 Cor 3:1-2). Apathy towards reading the Bible is a sign of spiritual sickness, or spiritual anorexia.
What could cause such a sickness? Either we have wandered away from Jesus and have forgotten the taste of truth; or we have refused to obey the truth we have received; or we are more concerned to create an image for ourselves, than to accept the privilege of growing into the image of Christ. Or we have not been born into God's family at all (and are still locked into our sins). The remedy is to come to Jesus in repentance and faith (click onto www.crosscheck.org.uk if you are not sure what this means), choose to obey the truth you already know, and get back to regular spiritual meals as you read God's Word. Hopefully, Word@Work is already stirring your hunger to grow up more into Christ. Share this with one or two work colleagues; it may be just what they need.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for providing me with all I need to grow up in Your family. Forgive me when I have valued my own ideas more than Your Word. I know that I can only grow up properly as a child of God if I accept and obey your Word. So please give me a renewed appetite for the purity of the Bible, and its ability to show me how to become like Jesus. For His Name's sake. Amen.
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