1 Peter 2:1-2 – AMPC
1. SO BE done with every trace of wickedness (depravity, malignity) and all deceit and insincerity (pretense, hypocrisy) and grudges (envy, jealousy) and slander and evil speaking of every kind. 2. Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation,
The word of God is what we need so as to grow in Christ. Before it can profit us, Apostle Peter says we should lay aside all malice, and guile, hypocrisies (insincerity), envies, and evil speaking. As long as you are practicing them, it will be difficult for you to grow in the knowledge of God.
Newborn babes mean those who have just given their lives to Christ and are yet to be established in Him. For such, what they need is the sincere milk of the word, which is the elementary, or A B C of Christianity. They need the foundational doctrines of Christ in order to stand. I want to say here that our spirit does not grow like a new baby grows in stature. Our born again spirit has the nature and life of God, and as God does not grow, so does the spirit. What grows is our knowledge of God.
Our mind needs to know more about God and all that is ours in Christ to let the spirit man dominate. The process of renewal and disciplining ourselves to let the new man dominate is called Christian growth.
As one grows in Christ, he begins to feed on the solid food of the word – from milk to solid food, and then to bones.
Hebrews 5:12-14 – NLT
12. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
Apostle Paul was rebuking the Hebrews for their lack of seriousness in putting to practice the word they have received. They were so unserious that as at the time the letter was written they were supposed to be teachers, but they were not. They were still looking for teachers to teach them. The word of God demands that we practice whatever we learn. Paul called them babes still needing milk instead of solid food. Solid food belongs to the mature. Who are the mature? They are those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. The mature are those who allow the word of God to renew their minds, and go on to discipline themselves by bringing their thoughts and their whole members under obedience to the knowledge received. The mature are the ones who allow the word of God to be fulfilled in them. They are the ones who allow the word of God to reproduce itself in their lives. When God says go, they go. When He says stop, they stop. What ever He says, they discipline themselves to do it.
Jesus said in
Matthew 4:4 – KJV
4. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
As the physical body needs bread to survive and to grow so also the spiritual man needs spiritual food of God’s word to survive and to grow. Jesus said we need every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is not some portions that are sweet to our ears or easy to practice. But all the word of God: the easy ones, the hard ones. Live by the whole word of God.
When one is fasting and feeding on the word of God, he does not become sick or have stomach ulcer. But when one is starving, he does become sick, and most times get stomach ulcer. The word of God in the absence of physical food keeps one strong, alive and healthy. The word of God indeed nourishes. Eat it every day and you will confess the same thing.
The word of God is alive and active and not dead or passive. Therefore it produces results. The degree of the working of the word of God in any man depends on how he attends to the word and receives it. The word of God works in relation to the reaction of the hearer. Receive the word of God with faith and a willingness to obey always.
May your heart be daily filled with hunger for God’s word and may you always receive it with eagerness, faith and a willingness to practice it in Jesus name.
Apostle Sylvester Onyemalechi
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