Got Milk?
Remember the “Got Milk?” commercials where a well-known celebrity was proud to admit they drank milk by revealing their milk moustache? The commercial encouraged milk consumption and the campaign was credited for upping milk sales by highlighting the benefits of milk.
As we flew to Puerto Vallarta yesterday, this baby was just across the aisle from us. She and her daddy were having a good ole’ time. We were captured by her sweet little spirit — so jolly and happy.
Oh, but wait just a minute, suddenly her good mood shifted into a mighty milk-hungry baby. Her mama quickly came to the rescue. That mama proceeded to give her baby what she was craving. Aw!
I read 1 Peter 2:2 and it made me “crave” nourishment from God’s Word. “Like newborn babies (crave their mama’s milk), 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.”
The Apostle Peter was “campaigning” for upping spiritual milk “intake”. I love this new and improved Peter. Before the day of Pentecost, he was a coward, an ear-slicing-off hatchet man, a denier of His Lord. After Pentecost – he became a mighty man of courage and spoke with authority and wisdom. I’ll listen to that kind of leader any day. He had learned his lessons well and wanted us to learn our lessons well, too.
Back to that 1 Peter scripture “Like newborn babies”, he encourages us to “crave spiritual milk”. What we know about babies is they need a steady diet of milk to survive. No milk means cranky, sickly, unhappy babies. Got Milk? – Happy, satisfied, and nourished babies.
God made our faith work much the same way our bodies work. He designed us to require daily nourishment. A diet lacking a steady intake of God’s Word makes us cranky, unhappy disciples as we face giants of doubt, unbelief, and worry.
When we are physically hungry, hunger pains develop in our tummies. When our faith is lacking, it’s because we’re not in-taking God’s Word. And, when we’re intent on devouring God’s Word, our faith is strong enough to counteract the fiery darts of the enemy when he comes barreling into our lives.
The way a baby craves his mother’s milk is like the craving we should adopt for craving God’s Word. And the more we take in God’s Word, the more we’ll crave it. Many of us are malnourished spiritually because we’re only eating junk food – the news, the latest Hollywood scandals, the next thriller movie, etc.
What we need is the nourishing, delicious milk of God’s Word. As I was thinking about this, I realized that Psalm 119 is not only the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses, but it is a chapter in the Bible filled with one message… “Love God’s Word”.
Let’s “feast on” some of that chapter here and pray that these words ring true in us as we develop a craving for the pure spiritual milk of the Word of God. These words will make us grow up in our spiritual health and will satisfy our hunger!
From Psalm 119:
Verse 97: Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Verse 103: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Verse 105: Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.