By David ReayMonday 10 Aug 2015LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read 1 Peter 2:1-3
1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. (NLT)
Feed a newborn baby with the wrong sort of food or drink and the newborn baby will soon get sick, or at least not flourish. Any loving parent will ensure the infant gets what they need and that anything harmful is kept away from them. We want to nourish them not poison them. So it is that Peter here tells us spiritual babies to stick to what is wholesome rather than ingest what is harmful.
The harmful stuff is mentioned at the outset of this passage. Deceit and hypocrisy are attempts to mislead people by giving false impressions. We are not genuine. Such people are those who smile and speak warmly to others while stabbing them in the back. Jealousy is resenting what someone else is doing or having. We wanted to do that; we wanted to have that. So we are not thankful for them but see them through the eyes of our own disappointment.
Unkind speech is designed to wound another person. Many of our greatest blessings come via the words of others. Many of our greatest burdens arise out of the words of others. We might run others down because we are in the pits and want company in our misery. Or we want to be seen as clever and witty and use our mocking words to gain popularity at others’ expense.
All of which will stunt our spiritual growth. We will never grow up if we act in such ways. Such actions will leave us infantile, impoverished, sick. So we need to get a healthy dose of God’s ways into us. Junk food is, after all, just junk.
Blessings
David Reay