Drink milk

This week's verses are 1 Peter 2:1-3:

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

 These verses come after Saint Peter has spent most of the previous chapter urging Christians to endure the difficult parts of life while trying to be holy. That alone is difficult enough, but now he tells us to stop backstabbing and politicking and putting on a show, and to instead focus on following God and living the way he wants us to live.

But those are difficult words! Most of us do at least some of those things on his list. Have you never been envious of someone else? Or spun a story to make it more impressive on social media? Have you never complained about someone to someone else?

Peter is basically describing church people everywhere. He is describing default human behavior, not some extra level of depravity we can look down our noses at. Our natural human nature is not the desired end state we reach once we purge some anomalous and ill-defined evil that lurks in our hearts. It is the problem itself.

If we live in complete self-absorbed isolation, we can pretend maybe that we don't have those weaknesses. Can we be malicious or deceitful or hypocritical if we're living alone in some cell? Can we slander if we don't speak at all ever to anyone? Maybe, but it's unlikely we'd notice.

But once we know even one person, all of these traits begin to manifest themselves. We put ourselves first, we manipulate, we lie and twist facts, we keep two sets of books, pretend to be genuine, murderously desire what the other has, and talk badly about them behind their backs.

This is one of the reasons why it is important to live out our Christian lives in genuine community with others. How can you know the sin in your heart if you are never tempted or tested? And if you are never confronted with your failure, how will you develop the sense of grace and humility you need to truly love others as Christ loves us?

Peter tells us we should put aside the darker side of our human nature and become like newborn babies. Not in the sense of staying asleep, making messes, and crying until someone cleans them up, but in the sense of being single-mindedly focused on our caretaker and on growing up. We need the milk of God's word or we will not grow.

If you have made a conscious decision to become a Christian, it is probably because you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. We know deep down that he is our caretaker, but sometimes we forget that we need the milk of his word too. Rather than go on the autopilot of our interpersonal sin, we should put aside these obnoxious behaviors and seek God instead.

Thanksgiving is a time when most of us are lucky enough to see people we love, whether as a family or as a church or both. But do we really love them the way Christ loves us? Take some time to consider these verses, and commit to learning more about who Jesus is so that you can love the way he does.