1 Peter 2:2-3 - Milk

1 Peter 2:2-3

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

At the Luttrull house, milk is a common topic of discussion. Between my lactose intolerance and tendency to purchase rice milk in bulk, Lynda’s need for whole milk now that she’s pregnant again, and Levi’s breast feeding – the topic is well covered at our house.

The picture that Peter draws is a newborn crying for her mother’s milk. He is not talking about a big glass of whole, 2% homogenized, or skim milk – he is talking about breast milk, straight from Mama. And why not? Breast milk is an amazing substance; here are some interesting facts (we’re going to say ‘breast milk’ a lot today):

* The act of breast feeding bonds mother and baby – it also reduces the baby’s stress.
** Breast milk is perfectly balanced nutritionally. It has everything that the baby needs and nothing the baby doesn’t need.
*** Breast milk helps the baby’s digestive system develop properly and prevents many allergies and food sensitivities.
**** Antibodies and other aspects of the mother’s immune system are transferred through the milk to the baby. This makes for a stronger, healthier baby.

Trust me; I could have gone on… Peter tells us that we should crave pure, spiritual milk so we may grow up in our salvation. Like breast milk, spiritual milk has many benefits for us:

* The act of taking in the truth of God’s word bonds us with God. We know Him better as we eat His word. Knowing God better reduces our stress because we know that God loves us, that He is in control, and that He has a good plan for us.
** God’s word is perfect. It has everything we need and teaches us to stay away from everything that we don’t need.
*** Ingesting God’s pure, spiritual milk fills us with God’s truth which protects us from many harmful things in life (if we choose to obey).
**** Most amazingly, the act of reading and obeying God’s word allows God’s Spirit to change us – to infuse us with His character. By eating God’s word, we become like God.

We are so thankful that Levi has taken breast milk from the very beginning. In our case, there was an unforeseen side effect. The little man would only drink milk from Lynda; he would accept no substitute. While that was very tiresome for us (and by us, I mean Lynda), it is a beautiful picture of how we should crave God’s spiritual milk and not settle for anything else.

God’s milk is everything we need, why chase after anything else?