Is Your Life Governed By God's Word? Series

2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, (1 Peter 2:2 NIV)*

2You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk,

(1 Peter 2:2 NLT)*

2Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation,

(1 Peter 2:2 Amplified)*

2Like newborn infants you are, you must crave for pure milk (spiritual milk, I mean), so that you may thrive upon it to your souls’ health. (1 Peter 2:2 TNEB)*

2 And be like new born babies, thirsty for the pure milk of the word so that by it, you may grow up into deliverance. (1 Peter 2:2 CJB)*

What do you think is the most valuable item in the world? Is it the Hope Diamond? The Mona Lisa? How about King Tut’s Tomb? How about the new Freedom Towers in Manhattan? Offer these options to someone at death’s door and you immediately discover they have a plummeting value. To that person, the world’s treasures have no value.

I suggest the most valuable item on the planet costs less than $100. Hundreds of them sit on thrift store shelves and sell for pennies of their value. They are given as gifts, yet never opened. At key crossroads of a person’s life they are introduced as aid, help, and even salvation, but for many they offer little course correction. Americans treat them casually, but those in places like China risk their very lives to get their hands on one. The Gideons give them away. The Inaugural address offers it as a basis for upholding the Constitution. The children’s version includes pictures. Bible school students often buy one that includes extensive study notes. They are often read at funerals then placed in the casket or passed on to loved ones.

Written in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, it is our foundation for faith and absolute authority. It is historically reliable. Over 40 authors on three continents wrote it over a period of 1600 years. They came from different cultures and different walks of life.

The answer? The most valuable item in the world is – the Bible.

Bill Gates’ billions can’t touch it, Hitler couldn’t destroy it, Nero couldn’t burn it, and the Khmer Rouge couldn’t change it. It is inerrant and infallible in its original writings. Nothing will change you more over the next five years than the trials you go through and the scriptures you read, meditate on, and memorize.

God’s word is spiritual food that you must take in daily to enjoy God’s plan and purpose for your life. The Bible is called milk, bread, solid food and sweet dessert. This is your daily four-course meal to help you grow and have spiritual strength to defeat the devil and resist temptation.

The Bible is more than a book of information and interpretation, it is a book that…

…generates life, creates faith, produces change, frightens the devil, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, transforms circumstances, imparts joy, overcomes adversity, defeats temptation, infuses hope ,releases power, cleanses our mind, brings things into being, guarantees our future forever2

We cannot live without it. Never take it for granted. Get more of it into you, by any means.

The Bible has two primary themes: The Way to God and the Walk with God. Both rely heavily upon experiential learning. A quick glance at scripture reminds of these points:

Esau was a hunter (God’s blessing)

Joseph was a manager (God’s blessing)

Nehemiah was a builder (God’s call)

Moses was an employee (tended father-in-law’s sheep)

Our text today introduces three insights about the value of God’s word. First, God’s word must be taken into our lives daily. Newborn babies come out of the womb crying. One thing will stop a newborn from crying – milk, they’re hungry all the time. Like that newborn crying for milk, we need spiritual nourishment and should crave, desire, and thirst for the food found only in God’s word.

Second, we should crave the meat of God’s word that comes only through study. God created us with an appetite for His word. When we feast on it daily, His Spirit creates a desire deep with in us for a greater understanding. Then He faithfully opens our eyes and hearts and teaches us.

Finally, the daily study of God’s word leads to spiritual maturity. How many Christians become arrested spiritually? Their failure to introduce the word of God into their spirits daily and allow the Spirit to teach them as they study causes them to experience protracted infancy. The text reminds us of the relationship of the daily study of God’s word and spiritual maturity.