{"id":7177,"date":"2015-11-06T03:33:03","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T03:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7177"},"modified":"2015-11-07T05:37:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-07T05:37:05","slug":"1-peter-21-3-longing-for-the-nourishment-of-the-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7177","title":{"rendered":"1 Peter 2:1-3\u2014Longing for the nourishment of the Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,<\/em> 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. <\/em>1 Peter 2:1-3<\/p>\n

Peter was writing to people who had been born again through faith in Christ by hearing the living Word of God. In this next section of his letter, he proceeded to delineate not only behaviors that corresponded to this new life in Christ, but also those that did not.<\/p>\n

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Malice. Deceit. Hypocrisy. Envy. Slander: Put them all aside. Get rid of them. Stop behaving this way! Here\u2019s a brief description of each item on Peter\u2019s dirty laundry list:<\/p>\n

Malice:<\/em> Malicious intent, ill-will, a desire to injure. Wickedness that is not ashamed to break laws or to cause trouble for others<\/p>\n

Deceit:<\/em> Craftiness, guile, trickery, lying to attain unfair advantage<\/p>\n

Hypocrisy:<\/em> Pretense, phoniness, fake, acting one way while thinking and being a different way, putting on a show to present a false appearance<\/p>\n

Envy<\/em>: Jealousy, ill-will born out of wanting what others\u00a0have and feeling personally cheated and hurt by them because of it<\/p>\n

Slander:<\/em> Defamation, backbiting, evil speaking, words used to call into question or damage the good reputation of another<\/p>\n

…like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Instead of wallowing in the same muck you used to roll around in, this is your new plan of action: Long for the pure milk of the Word of God as newborn babies.<\/p>\n

When you let go of old behaviors and thought patterns, they leave a void in your life. Since nature abhors a vacuum, something will quickly fill the empty space in your mind and habits. Let\u00a0that void\u00a0be filled with\u00a0a longing for the Word of God. Let the Word of God become your nourishment and lifeline in the exact same way a newborn craves its mother\u2019s milk. You are, after all, a baby in Christ, and even long after you first receive Christ, you will still need the nutrition found only in the Bible.<\/p>\n

\u2026so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

A baby grows with the proper nourishment. Throughout your life, you\u00a0have need of the proper nutrients for your body to function in a healthy manner. And as a believer, you must also feed your spirit true food if you want to grow in Christ.<\/p>\n

What exactly is the proper nutrition for\u00a0an everyday Christian? Nothing less than the Word of God.<\/p>\n

The spiritual thoughts and teachings of men and women in books and online (including\u00a0this blog) are helpful, but nothing nourishes your spirit man as completely as feeding on God\u2019s Word itself. The prophetic declarations of trusted ministries and prophets can indeed stir your soul and shed some light, but none of it can substitute for the true food of the Word of God\u00a0found in the pages of the Holy Bible.<\/p>\n

A life nourished solely on the thoughts, teachings, and prophetic declarations of others will never reach full maturity. Only when you crack open the Book for yourself and soak up its Truth, allowing yourself to be taught by the Holy Spirit, will you be fully fed. The Master Chef will set your table with precious, flavorful nutrition, custom-prepared just for you. And as you feed, you grow in respect to salvation.<\/p>\n

\u2026 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Lord\u2019s kindness leads us to repentance. If you have tasted that kindness\u2014the sweet conviction that leads you to forsake your sin and embrace Christ\u2014then feasting on the Word of God will not only become nourishment to your spirit, but it will also become the\u00a0joy and rejoicing\u00a0of your life.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, O LORD God of hosts.<\/em> Jeremiah 15:16, American KJV<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015, Dorothy Frick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 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. 1 Peter 2:1-3 Peter was writing to people who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[350],"tags":[353,352,351,354],"class_list":["post-7177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1-peter-2","tag-grow-in-respect-to-salvation","tag-like-newborn-babies-long-for-the-pure-milk-of-the-word","tag-put-aside-all-malice","tag-taste-the-kindness-of-the-lord"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7177"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7182,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177\/revisions\/7182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}