“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” – 1 Pet 2:1-3 (ESV)
My newborn son, Asher, surprised me the other day.
As Adeline was not able to produce enough breast milk to satisfy his growing appetite, we decided that we had to supplement his diet with formula milk. That night, Asher was hungry. As his wailing increased in volume, both of us were sure that, being that hungry, he would drink the formula as fast he usually does with breast milk. That’s when he surprised us by resisting the formula! After a quick taste, he stuck his tongue out to push the teat out of his mouth and literally kicked up a fuss. We tried to put the teat back into his mouth and again he struggled. He obviously wasn’t fond of the taste of the artificially produced formula!
What he truly longed for was his mother’s milk.
That was the picture Peter painted here. He was exhorting us (like newborn babies) to long for spiritual milk. ACCEPT NOTHING LESS! God wants us to long after Him, to desire Him as that desire is what leads us to grow in the Lord – to grow up into salvation. Often, in our discipleship journey, we get tired and our longing and desire for God wanes. And when that happens, we sometimes feel stuck because while we know that we ought to desire after God, the desire doesn’t seem to be there anymore; and before we know it, sometimes it seems easier to just not desire Him anymore.
However, let us understand that while this might even be what we’re experiencing, it need not be like this. For we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and He wants us to grow in our knowledge and experience of Christ – to enjoy Him and be fully satisfied in Him.
How can we do that? Especially when we’re sometimes tired and weary? The apostle Peter outlines a few ways:
- Remember God’s goodness (2:3), of how His gospel saved us and how we’ve been bought with the precious blood of Christ (1:19).
- Be assured that we have been born again through the imperishable, living and abiding Word of God (1:23) and that we’re forever secure in God’s family.
- Put away malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander in our lives (2:1). If we want to long for God, these controlling desires have to be put away and destroyed. And as these desires are put away, our desire for God will grow stronger.
Therefore, may we desire and long for God without restraint and accept nothing less!
By Adrian Ow, Pastoral Staff (YCKC Bulletin 2&3 November 2013)