2 As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. ~ 1 Peter 2:2-3
Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is equipping us with the weaponry needed to fight the good fight of the faith. In 1 Peter 1, Peter reminded us of our "new life" in the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 2, he carries the analogy over by using "newborn babes" to describe the believer in Christ. If we do not fill our souls with the word of God, something else will fill the void.
In our previous study, Peter introduced us to a few words: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking. These define us when we are being defined by the flesh or the sinful desires that are yet within us even though we have been born again. This is why the Apostle Peter directs our attention to the word of the Lord. When His word defines us, He produces the life we all really want and are seeking.
The Apostle Peter wrote this letter to young believers in the Lord who were going through tremendous pressure. He refers to these young believers as "newborn babies" who weren't babies at all. The Apostle employed this analogy in order to help his readers to understand their utter need for spiritual growth and their responsibility in their sanctification.
Recently we had a nest of baby Eastern Phoebe Flycatchers on our front porch. These five baby birds were born hungry. They demanded bugs all day, demanding of their mom and dad much work. Not a minute went by before either the mom or the dad was feeding them. It reminded me that the highest rate of growth in human life is the infant stage. Babies change weekly. When a baby is hungry, that baby will be faithful to let you and everyone else know exactly what they want. So when a baby desires milk, everyone will know about it. It's an unmistakable signal and it is quite normal.
It was appropriate for the Apostle Peter to use the object lesson of "newborn babes" to communicate a very important spiritual lesson here in v.2. In so doing, the Apostle was instructing his readers about the secret to their spiritual success. And, the practice must never change no matter how mature we get in our walk with the Lord. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, if we do not hunger and thirst for God and His word, we will atrophy. As believers in Christ we must greatly desire or crave God's truth just like a baby craves its mother's milk. And when we do that, we will grow because of it.
To the degree that we long for the pure milk of the Word of God, is the degree that we will grow spiritually. The self-life must be replaced with a longing for a greater truth. The greater truth is none other than Jesus Christ who is gracious toward us. We simply cannot grow spiritually without a steady diet of the pure Word of God. And, it is His grace that creates the greatest desire in us to seek Him and to know Him and to make Him known to others.
In v.3 of today's passage we read, "If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
The Apostle did not use this conditional sentence to question his readers salvation. He was simply saying that if God's grace has not performed its transformational work in us, His word will not have its desired effect. The word translated "gracious" is derived from an Old Testament term which speaks of God's loyalty to His promises. God has always been true to His Word, and, it is His grace that creates a deep resolve in our souls to want to be obedient to Him.
When we come to God's word, we must come to meet the Lord Himself. We must be careful to recognize that the Bible is like a pane of glass which is designed to enable us to see God through it. It is through His word that He delivers the life that we crave. If we were to center in on the word only, we would become etched. If we were to do that, we would miss the purpose of God's word which is to reveal to us the heart of our savior to us. It is through the power of His word, as we yield to it, that He expresses His grace in, to and through us. And, it is this grace that moves us to resolve, out of gratitude, to bring glory to the One who loved us to the point of His death.
I love the words of Mike Yaconelli who once said, "Looking back over the years, I realize the Bible isn't magic, but it is corrective; it isn't an answer book, it is a living book; it isn't a fix-it book, it is relationship book. When I confront God's word, I am confronted; when I read God's word, it reads me; when I seek God's presence, He seeks me."
