Pure Milk

February 16

We can learn a lesson from babies. They are resolute in their determination to see their needs satisfied. I Peter 2:2 tells us that we must, like newborn babes, “…crave pure spiritual milk, so by it you may grow up in your salvation.” Without the milk of the word, we cannot hope to become ready for strong meat (Hebrews 5:12-14.)

The life of faith is compared in many ways to the maturing process that brings a believer from infancy to adulthood, and this analogy is perhaps one of the most graphic and therefore, one of the easiest to understand. But why should we concern ourselves with this ethereal process in the first place?

We’ve recognized our need for a Savior; we’ve discovered Jesus to be the only One who can fulfill that role in our lives; we’ve placed our surrendered lives before Him…so what else is needed? What’s wrong with simply continuing as we are? Why not just live life to the best of our ability and trust Him that the unseen realm of the spirit is secure within His loving hands?

Although we do that to a degree, we cannot negate the wise counsel of Paul in II Corinthians 5:9 which says, “We make it our goal to please Him; whether we are at home in the body or absent from it.” Paul understood the futility of striving to please God without understanding; he knew that life’s only fulfillment comes with knowing Him and maturing in Him—and that comes by drinking in the pure milk of the Word.