Contemplation #187
Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 1 Peter 2:2
Peter says something notable about our salvation – that it is a state of being, but not a static condition. The believers he is writing to are saved, but they are encouraged to grow up in the salvation which they have received. Having received the gift of redemption from our hopeless condition as sinners, lost and without meaningful direction in this life, we are now saved and set on a clear course of godliness. To realize that we need to grow in our salvation is not to dispute the sufficiency of the gift through Christ, but we acknowledge that being brought into a state of salvation is not the same as becoming mature in that grace.
Contemplation #188
Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 1 Peter 2:2
Peter’s encouragement is for us to strongly desire spiritual nourishment. But what is this spiritual food? Because we are children of the Age of Reason it is easy for us to associate instruction, learning, and knowledge with spiritual food. Yet when we read Peter’s words which precede and follow this encouragement, he seems to be talking about “being obedient children” (1:14), “obeying” (1:22), or “disobeying” (2:8) the “word of the Lord” which stands forever (1:25). He doesn’t look at God’s message to us as a matter of understanding, but of practice and action. To strongly crave spiritual food is not to have an intellectual hunger for knowledge, but a personal desire to be nourished in the practice of God’s Word.
Contemplation #189
Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 1 Peter 2:2
The imagery of a newborn baby craving milk is powerful for us. A newborn has few other waking desires, except to receive milk. We should be as ardent in craving only one reality. Having received salvation, we are to be singularly focused on aligning ourselves to the way of God in all things. According to Peter, we have two complementary but opposite practices: to rid ourselves of all types of evil such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, and slander (2:1), and to develop a sincere love for others, a deep love from the heart (1:22). Our spiritual food is the way of God, as spoken to us and practiced by us.
Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 1 Peter 2:2
Peter says something notable about our salvation – that it is a state of being, but not a static condition. The believers he is writing to are saved, but they are encouraged to grow up in the salvation which they have received. Having received the gift of redemption from our hopeless condition as sinners, lost and without meaningful direction in this life, we are now saved and set on a clear course of godliness. To realize that we need to grow in our salvation is not to dispute the sufficiency of the gift through Christ, but we acknowledge that being brought into a state of salvation is not the same as becoming mature in that grace.
Contemplation #188
Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 1 Peter 2:2
Peter’s encouragement is for us to strongly desire spiritual nourishment. But what is this spiritual food? Because we are children of the Age of Reason it is easy for us to associate instruction, learning, and knowledge with spiritual food. Yet when we read Peter’s words which precede and follow this encouragement, he seems to be talking about “being obedient children” (1:14), “obeying” (1:22), or “disobeying” (2:8) the “word of the Lord” which stands forever (1:25). He doesn’t look at God’s message to us as a matter of understanding, but of practice and action. To strongly crave spiritual food is not to have an intellectual hunger for knowledge, but a personal desire to be nourished in the practice of God’s Word.
Contemplation #189
Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 1 Peter 2:2
The imagery of a newborn baby craving milk is powerful for us. A newborn has few other waking desires, except to receive milk. We should be as ardent in craving only one reality. Having received salvation, we are to be singularly focused on aligning ourselves to the way of God in all things. According to Peter, we have two complementary but opposite practices: to rid ourselves of all types of evil such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, and slander (2:1), and to develop a sincere love for others, a deep love from the heart (1:22). Our spiritual food is the way of God, as spoken to us and practiced by us.
posted by Greg at 8:34 AM
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