1 Peter - Following Jesus Sample

How can we keep good relationships good? God’s enduring word brings new birth into new relationships. Peter wants these new relationships to endure too. But it is hard to keep loving relationships good. You probably know that first-hand!

• Sin wrecks relationships. If these Christians are going to grow loving relationships which last, what must they do (2:1)?

They must get rid of any desire to harm each other. Slander, and the malice which prompts it, must go. These believers must get rid of all envy and hypocrisy too. Bitterness and spiritual one-upmanship will sprout and flourish from these dangerous seeds. Yet how easy it is to wish we had what others have or to pretend we are better than we are. Christian brothers and sisters must love each other deeply and get rid of anything that will spoil this love.

• What else does Peter want his friends to do and why (v. 2)?

Peter wants them to crave spiritual food. Literally, he tells these believers to crave pure ‘wordy’ milk or ‘the pure milk of the word’.

Newborn babies cry out for milk. Babies will not settle until their hunger is satisfied. It is vital for their life; they will not live and thrive without it. Christians need the spiritual food of God’s word. Our hearts are to cry out for God’s word as babies cry out for milk.

Christians are born again through God’s word (1:23). Peter’s friends have begun the Christian life. They have ‘tasted’ the goodness of God in the gospel (2:3). Now they need to keep feasting on that life-giving word. Only then will they grow up in their salvation. The same is true for us today.

How is your spiritual hunger for God’s word? Spiritual hunger works differently from physical hunger. With physical hunger, the more you eat, the less hungry you feel. But spiritual hunger works the other way round. The more you eat, the more spiritually hungry you feel.

So, if you aren’t feeling spiritually hungry, if you aren’t craving pure ‘wordy’ milk, it is a sure sign that you need to get on and eat something! Get listening to God’s word again. That is the way to feel more hungry spiritually. Try it!

Pray

Pray you would crave the spiritual food of God’s word so that you will feed on it and ‘grow up in your salvation’.