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Do You Long for the Word of God?

Peter tells us in I Peter 2:2, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”

Remember when your baby was hungry in the middle of the night? You had actually fallen asleep and slept so soundly you didn’t hear him stir. Now he is wailing with all his lung power. Why?
He wants to eat.
You stick that bottle in his mouth or nurse him—instantly his wails change from cries of pain to guzzling that milk.
Watch him gulp down his bottle. That full bottle can be emptied in minutes!

Ever try to give a baby something other than milk? 
He’s not taking it. He knows what he wants and won’t settle for anything else.
He doesn’t know that milk fills his stomach so the ache goes away, or that it makes him grow, gives him energy, and keeps him alive. He just knows it makes him feel better. He stops crying.

Peter describes new Christians as new babies. 
They yearn for what God wants to show them. 
They want nothing but the best, the pure milk of the Word.
They can’t get enough of it. They gulp it down. Devour it. Inhale it.
They share their new-found life with everyone.
They stumble. Fall. But go back to the Word to read what they should have or could have done. 
They read so they can know God.
Their obedience is so simple and trusting.
They long for the Word of God.
They see what God did for them. His love. His mercy. His grace.

Somehow in our walk with God that yearning for His Word wanes. 
We lose our thirst for His Word.
We substitute what we think with what God says.
The pure milk of the word is diluted by our own additions.
We think we can grow in righteousness on our own.
We become distracted by doing good things, instead of asking God what He wants us to do.
We tell ourselves we are okay—we’re doing good things.

Why?
Because we didn’t get past the milk.
Milk is great for babies. But if a child continues on just milk, he will not grow properly.
He will be stunted, weak and deformed.
Paul rebukes the Christians in Corinthians 3:21, "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready."
We don’t stay drinking from devotionals and what others say, we move on.

Not that we can’t supplement the Word with other things.
But we read a verse, think about it, pray over it, study what it means, ask God what we need to do about it. 
The Word becomes meat to our craving souls. 

Ever try to guzzle meat?
You can’t.
Unless you want to choke.
When I give scraps to our dogs, I blink and its gone. It’s like they don’t even have teeth. 
They inhale the meat. 
I wonder how their stomachs feel afterwards.
We can't do that with the Bible. There. We read for the morning. Now we can do our day like we planned. Now we went to church. Now the rest of the week is mine.
No!
We must chew, savor, break down meat.
Same with God’s Word. After the initial time of guzzling— drenching our bodies with its pure sweetness, we must slow down. 
Meditate. 
Think about it. 
Study it.
Saturate our thoughts with His.
Allow God’s Spirit to change our old, preconceived, wrong ideas to His.
Listen for His Spirit to tell what actions or thoughts are not pleasing to Him.
Submit to the Word.
That’s when His righteousness changes us.
It’s not by our doing.
The Word is our milk and meat.
We grow.
We thrive.
It changes us.
We are conformed—by His Spirit—to the image of His Son.
We do not do things to please God. 
We think differently.
And we just are.
And that is enough.


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I write about what matters...to you---
women, wives and moms---
about your family, faith and future.
I write about what's hard, what helps and what heals.
I show you how it's done. And not done.
I hold your hand as you find what matters to the Savior.
And let go of those things that mattered to you, but not to Him.
I write about what matters...to Him.
               Sonya Contreras

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Author of Biblical fiction, married to my best friend, and challenged by eight sons’ growing pains as I write about what matters.

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