Spiritual Nourishment

Dated: 23 Aug 2009

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-3

One unchanging law of life is that as soon as a baby is born, the first and greatest need of that new birth is nourishment to sustain it. That means that even if a baby is born sound and healthy, it would still die unless it quickly receives nourishment upon delivery.

The same is true in the spiritual realm. God’s Word will produce within the human soul a new kind of life. This new nature immediately requires the spiritual nourishment found in the Word of God. For newborn spiritual babes in Christ, God’s appointed nourishment is “the pure milk of the word” (1 Pet. 2:2). This “milk” is a necessity for continued life and growth.

In the natural, no matter how pure the milk is, if it comes into contact with anything sour, it turns bad quickly. That is why there is a warning attached by Peter: if we do not lay aside the sour and corrupted elements of the old life—malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking (2:1)—the beneficial effects of the Word of God cannot work within us. Spiritual milk is for the baby Christian. But it is not God’s will that Christians remain spiritual babes for too long. As that baby Christian begins to grow, he needs to stop drinking milk and start eating bread. What is God’s appointed spiritual bread? “Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

But don’t stop there. If you wish to mature spiritually, you must learn the whole Bible, not just the more familiar portions of the Scripture. Beyond milk and bread, God’s Word also provides solid food.

The writer of Hebrews rebuked the Jewish believers for only feeding on milk and never progressing to solid food (Heb. 5:12-13). What a picture of many professing Christians and church members today. They often own a Bible and have attended church for many years, yet they know so little of what the Bible teaches. They are immature, with very little spiritual experiences. After many years, they are still spiritual babes, unable to digest any kind of teaching that goes beyond the “milk stage.”

There is a remedy. You need to have your “senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (5:14). That means engaging in a regular and systematic study of the whole counsel of God’s Word that will develop and mature our spiritual senses. As you get really serious with studying and living out the Word of God, you will fi nd yourself growing spiritually mature by leaps and bounds.