CRAVING THE GOOD STUFF

I had gone over to see my daughter in the middle of her getting lunch ready for the kids. Callie, their foster baby was sitting in the highchair waiting to be fed. She made the sign for more.

“Mommy more food, please.”

I was struck by her inability to reach the kitchen counter, open the fridge and fix her own peanut butter sandwich. Though, at birth she was given what is needed to mature into a beautiful young woman one day, she still had a lot of growing to do!!!

She was totally dependent on her mommy to feed her.

How sad it would be if at the age of 16, she is still sitting in a highchair asking for her mommy to feed her. She is expected to grow and learn to feed herself.

Peter tells us in his epistle that we are like newborn babies. When we come by faith to Christ believing who He is and what has been accomplished for us, something happens to us.

We experience a new birth. It is not physical but spiritual. John Stott says it is a “deep, inward, radical change brought about by the Holy Spirit in our human personality by which we receive a new heart and a new life and become a new creation.”

Apparently, Peter was well aware of the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus

“Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5

In other words, we do not emerge from the new birth as mature believers, but as newborn babes. We are weak, immature, vulnerable and needing to grow!! So, Peter instructs his readers to “grow up” in the faith.

So how do we grow? The same way a baby grows.

A baby does not doubt that he has what he needs to grow. In fact, the infant doesn’t even understand how his heart beats or his intestines process food. He just eats and breathes. And inside his little heart is the desire to move on…to crawl, to walk, to run!!!! Trusting all the time that he has what he needs to do so.

A few points to ponder.

• When we come to faith in Christ we are like a newborn babe.

• God has given us what we need to grow. We have the Spirit that indwells us, teaches us, empowers us and transforms us into Christlikeness. Even though we may not understand how it all works, we believe God and move forward in faith.

• Like a newborn babe, we also need a steady healthy diet. Disciplined feeding is a major condition for spiritual growth. Peter urges us to be like newborn babes and crave the Word of God, long for it…so that by it we may grow in our salvation.

The Word of God is as indispensable to our spiritual growth as a milk is to the growth of a baby!!

I’ve noticed, that when God “seems faraway” it is not because He has moved, but I have moved. I’ve either moved away from righteousness, decided not to take Him at His Word OR I’ve quit “eating” and am trying to exist on scraps instead of the pure milk and meat of God’s Word.

This week, we are having a women’s retreat!! My prayer is that we would encourage one another to long for God’s Word, to crave it. To not be content with sporadic eating. It just doesn’t cut it.

We need a healthy diet. And like baby Callie, may we say, “More!!! More food, please!!”