Spiritual Milk

The Apostle Peter wrote: "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." (1 Peter 2:2-3).

Having spent the last week with our baby son at home, feeding him every 3-5 hours day and night, every day, I feel I have more insight into Peter's meaning in these verses than I ever had before.

From my observations of Jonathan and thinking about this verse, I would say that we might consider the following points:

1. Our feeding has to be regular. Just as a baby feeds to a more-or-less regular schedule, so must we feed regularly in communion with Christ and God's Word.

2. Our feeding has to be our priority. Feeding isn't something Jonathan crams into his life in between "more important things". Alongside sleeping, feeding is his main focus! We are to "crave" spiritual milk, not adopt a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.

3. Our feeding has to be trusting. Jonathan relies on me or his mum to prepare his food for him. He trusts us and relies on us completely. So must we trust and rely on God to feed us.

4. Our feeding has to be accessible. Just as Jonathan has to take his food through either his mother's breast or a special bottle, so we must take our spiritual milk in ways that we can imbibe and take into ourselves so that it will actually nourish us. This may affect the ways we choose to consider Christ and his Word such as the Bible translation we use or the other ways we engage with God's Word.

5. Our feeding takes time. Each feed with Jonathan takes between 30-90 minutes. He has to pause to be winded from time to time and to clean his dribbles. We cannot rush our spiritual feeding either or we end up with spiritual indigestion or fail to get sufficient nourishment for us to "put on weight" in terms of Christian growth.