Growing Again!

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” I Peter 2:1,2

Reading the above verses this morning brought back memories of when our children were babies. One thing is for sure, we didn’t have to remind them to eat! In fact, there were times when we couldn’t get to them quick enough before their whimpers turned into whines which turned into cries which turned into screaming. When they got to this point, attempting to feed them was all in vain. They were beyond wanting to eat. Their impatience had produced a temper tantrum that needed to be calmed down before they could receive the milk waiting for them.

As Christians, feeding on the Word of God should be a daily practice in our lives; that is how we grow. But, no matter how old we are in the Lord, there will be times when our Bible reading is nothing more than reading words. We sit down to read and when we are finished we can’t remember a thing we have read. Maybe we were distracted. Maybe our minds were wandering the entire time – that is often the case. But, maybe we have allowed sin to creep into our hearts that is preventing us from receiving God’s Word. The above verses name a few things that could cause this:

malice – “Extreme enmity of heart, or malevolence; a disposition to injure others without cause, from mere personal gratification or from a spirit of revenge; unprovoked malignity or spite.”

guile – “Craft; cunning; artifice; duplicity; deceit; usually in a bad sense.”

hypocrisy – “Simulation; a feigning to be what one is not; or dissimulation, a concealment of one’s real character or motives. More generally, hypocrisy is simulation, or the assuming of a false appearance of virtue or religion; a deceitful show of a good character, in morals or religion; a counterfeiting of religion.”

envy – “To feel uneasiness, mortification or discontent, at the sight of superior excellence, reputation or happiness enjoyed by another; to repine at another’s prosperity; to fret or grieve one’s self at the real or supposed superiority of another, and to hate him on that account.”

evil speaking – “Detraction, speaking against another, or defaming him; it is rendered backbiting,”

Have we been “coming up dry” lately when reading our Bibles? Just as the baby that is too upset to eat, is there something in our hearts that is preventing us from “eating”? Any sin that we may be holding on to is not worth our spiritual starvation. Lay it aside today and begin growing again!

“The meek shall eat and be satisfied…” Psalm 22:26