Don't let dust accumulate.....

We've noted this week that we need the nourishment of the Word of God; that it is just as important to our lives as mother's milk is to a newborn babe.
Yesterday we saw Peter's two strategies that will result in a craving for the Word: put off the old sins, some of which he listed, and focus on the kindness and mercy of the Lord.

Today, let's make a practical application -- exactly how we drink in God's Word.

First of all, we need to read it! SO MANY Christians don't read their Bibles! God chose to communicate His Word to us in written form, and whether we read with a Bible in our laps, or whether we listen to audio forms in our car or our armchair, we really need to get into His Word.
New believers should probably start in the New Testament, and perhaps read it through several times. Move on to the Psalms and the Proverbs, and then tackle the whole Book. We can read through the Bible in a year if we read for just fifteen minutes a day! No, we won't grasp it all; not in a lifetime will we fully understand everything there. But if we pray for God to show us something about Himself, about ourselves, and about how He wants us to live, He will honor those requests. Like a newborn baby, we shouldn't let anything keep us from our "feeding" times!

Second, we need to study it. It's not just milk that fills us up and makes us feel warm and fuzzy. It's also rational, head knowledge milk. We have to think and meditate on it in order to understand it. We need to avoid "speed reading" it, and observe it carefully. If something seems difficult to understand, compare it with other verses and ask, what does this passage mean in light of the other verses? Use a good commentary; look at any notes in the center or on the bottom of each page; look in the concordance to find other verses that may assist in understanding.  Above all, pray about it....what does it mean to us? How do we need to obey it? It's also important to memorize portions so that God can use them in our lives during times when we need His guidance.

Thirdly, the image of milk, and of tasting the Lord's kindness must have been Peter's way of calling his readers (and us) to get "up close and personal," to check things out for ourselves. The Word of God is to fill our lives with delight, because we are coming closer to our Creator and we are enjoying His presence. Tasting points both to personal experience, and to enjoyment. I can't taste for you -- I can taste something and try to describe it, but that falls way short of your tasting it for yourself! We can hear things at a distance, and smell things, too, but tasting is an "up close" experience, touching something to our tongue. And once we like the taste of something, we want more. God's Word is that way for everyone who has tasted His kindness.

The final result will be our spiritual growth..... Peter tells us that in the latter half of verse 2:

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

As we read, understand, internalize, and use what we find in His Word, we will grow spiritually. Growing more like Him each day is one of our goals as believers.

Recently I was reading a sermon from several hundred years ago; a Puritan preacher in the 1620's, John Rogers, was really bearing down on the five hundred or so people listening intently to his sermon. He admonished them, acting as if he were the Lord, looking at them, saying:
"I have trusted you so long with my Bible.... it lies in such and such houses all covered with dust and cobwebs; you care not to listen to it. Do you use my Bible so? Well, you shall have my Bible no longer."  Then he took the part of the people, pleading with God for a second chance to keep His Word. Finally, he ended the sermon saying that perhaps God would say, "Say you so? Well, I will try you a while longer; and here is my Bible for you. I will see how you will use it, whether you will love it more, observe it more, practice it more, and live more according to it." His congregation was in tears, and redoubled their commitment to read and live by the Word of God.

What would we say if God told us that we had not valued His Word, and He was taking it away? Think about that for a moment.....

Do we have a craving for His Word? If the answer is no, then why not? I'm preaching to myself here, not just to anyone else who reads here.....my toes are getting smashed but good!

Perhaps there is sin in our lives. We need to confess it, turn away from it, and get back into the Bible!

Perhaps our appetites have been messed up by the "junk food" of this world. Maybe we have filled up on stuff like television, facebook, and other things. Maybe we've put too much time into what is sold as self-help or Christian books, under the label of Christianity, but which waters down the Word of God with human "wisdom."  This kind of thing makes us feel full, but doesn't nourish the soul like our Bibles do.  Ration these! Make sure the majority of our time is spent in His Word, and talking with Him.

When we hunger for God and His truth, we will drink in His word like a nursing babe. We must have it above all else, if we want to grow in our salvation.
Let's read our Bibles!