“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”NIV

Following on from yesterday, I was thinking about Paul writing:

‘’This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.’’ (2 Timothy 2:8b/9).

We may be confined and restricted, but God’s Word isn’t. It is very much alive and active in the world

Spiritual growth is not automatic. There are certain things we have to do (‘’…rid yourselves…crave…’’). Once again we find that the Bible, which is instrumental in our new birth, is also essential for our growth to maturity. Everyone loves a baby, but there is something quite wrong if the baby stays a baby; and there is something grotesquely sad about an adult who still behaves like he’s back in the nursery.

No, growth is not automatic. But it is wonderfully possible. Peter knows this. He is going to write in his second letter:

‘’His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness’’ (2 Peter 1:3).

We have the power supply for growth, and this is very good news.

Warren Wiersbe writes:

‘Just as a baby has an appetite for the mother’s milk, so the child of God has an appetite for the Father’s Word. If you lose that appetite and stop growing, check to see if any of the sins listed in verse 1 are infecting your life.’

‘’So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.’’ The Message.

PRAYER: Lord God, may it be true of me that I ‘’crave’’ your Word.