Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

This week’s theme was inspired by my wife reflecting on the year-over-year growth of her four God Children. Accordingly, this week we’ll pay attention to God’s view of His children’s growth. As per usual with God, let’s start at the beginning.

Recall, Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born again to enter into the Kingdom of God in John 3:3‭.

And in today’s scripture, 1 Peter 2:1‭-‬3 (NLT), the Apostle exhorts us to maintain a newborn’s thirst for the life sustaining milk…
So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

Consider…
Over the years at my church here in Dallas, I have learned how some biblical chapter breaks were arbitrarily inserted in the translation of the author’s writing. Today’s scripture seems like an example of this, as it appears to pick up a continuing thought being shared by Peter in the previous chapter. I came to that conclusion based on the first sentence of verse one, which is…
So get rid of all evil behavior.

That begs the question, what thought was Peter ending 1 Peter 1 with? Reading through the chapter, I believe
1 Peter 1:14‭-‬16 (NLT) is the beginning thought that the Apostle Peter was expounding on. He wrote…
So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Peter’s message appears to be targeted to maturing believers, yet he exhorts them to live as God’s obedient children.

God has myriads of relationships that He uses to describe how He wants us to see Him…

• Creator
• God
• Lord God
• Shepherd
• Savior
• Master
• Teacher
• Redeemer
• Friend

…but perhaps His most favorite one is Father.

Have you ever paused to consider the relationship Jesus modeled most was obedient Sonship to His Father. Read Jesus’ words in John 15:9‭-‬10 (NLT)…
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

Wow, Jesus said obey Him like He obeys His Father.

Jesus also said…
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. – Matthew 7:21 NLT

Jesus leaves no doubt that life, His and ours, is about obeying His Daddy.

What’s interesting, is one chapter earlier, in Matthew 6 Jesus used ‘your’ and ‘our’ pronouns to explain how the Father knows and cares about us. But in this verse we just read, He specifically uses the pronoun ‘my’ when it comes to obeying the Father’s will.

Why did Jesus say ‘my’? I think the answer can be found in John 8:42‭-‬45 (NLT), which says…
Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!

Jesus points out, there are two fathers vying for their children’s obedience. That’s important, because everyone is one of two fathers child. Depending on whether or not you have a relationship with Jesus, determines if you have the same Heavenly Father as Him. Romans 8:29 (NLT) explains…
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

If Jesus isn’t your big brother, God is not your Daddy!

Speaking of Jesus being the firstborn, like Nicodemus I struggled to reconcile being born again…
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” John 3:4 NLT

Especially when the idea of adoption is described in Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)…
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

But thanks be to God, John 3:5‭-‬6 (NLT) says…
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

It’s all about spiritual birth. Which brings us back to today’s scripture, that exhorts us to rid ourselves of the old sinful nature and start anew in Christ just like a newborn. Peter is encouraging us to change our cravings from the physical to the pure spiritual. Peter’s words paint the picture of desiring God’s word in our lives being just like a nursing baby craving the life sustaining breast milk of it’s mother.

According to Wikipedia, Breast milk (sometimes spelled as breastmilk) or mother’s milk is milk produced by the mammary glands in the breast of human females. Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborn infants, comprising fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and a varying composition of minerals and vitamins. Breast milk also contains substances that help protect an infant against infection and inflammation, such as symbiotic bacteria and other microorganisms and immunoglobulin A, whilst also contributing to the healthy development of the infant’s immune system and gut microbiome.

And according to 2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)…
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

I believe Peter is exhorting us to crave the word of God, because like a mother’s milk, it has everything we need to grow spiritually.

Lord willing, later this week we will talk about maturing to the meat of God’s word. But may I encourage you to never lose the craving of the spiritual milk. That’s because God’s word has everything you need to grow!

Today’s song is…
As The Deer

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)