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Years ago, our daughter Zoe refused to eat her dinner. We’re a bit old school in our parenting, so we require our children to at least try the food that has been set in front of them. Zoe refused to taste the bowl of chili that was in front of her that night. So, after an hour or so of stirring her chili without tasting it, we put plastic wrap over the bowl, put it in the refrigerator and promised to warm it up for breakfast. A few more meals came and went before Zoe finally tasted her chili. But once she did, she loved it. She’s even requested chili as her birthday dinner. Why? Because once she tasted it, she knew that it was good. That first taste awakened her appetite for more.

Yesterday we explained how 1 Peter 2:3 invites us to taste the goodness of God. Even though they’re ordered differently, verse 3 comes logically before verse 2. Verse 3 shows us how our hunger is awakened—we taste the goodness of God—and verse 2 shows us where our hunger should be concentrated. Peter writes, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Where should we concentrate our hunger? Peter says we should long for, hunger for “the pure spiritual milk.”

What is this milk he’s talking about? The New Testament talks about milk three other times. In 1 Corinthians 9 it refers to the literal milk that a shepherd gets when he tends the sheep. In 1 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 5 it refers to milk as a metaphor for instruction in God’s Word. That’s probably the use Peter intends here. The word spiritual in verse 2 shares a root with the Greek word logos which means “word.” The word literally means “that which pertains to a word,”[i] which is why translations like the KJV and the NASB translate this as “long for the pure milk of the word.”

So where do we concentrate our hunger? On God’s Word. Why? Because in so doing we will grow into our salvation. As we hunger for God’s Word we grow in holiness. How should we long for God’s Word? Like a newborn baby screaming for his mother’s milk. Some of you know what that sounds like.

Do you long for God’s Word this way? Is your hunger concentrated on the pure, unadulterated Word of God? Do you crave time in God’s Word? Do you anticipate this weekly gathering and the opportunity to hear God’s Word? Do you delight in reading Scripture? What emotions come to mind when you think about the Bible? What sorts of things keep you from reading or listening to the Bible?

I’m afraid some of us may think about God’s Word the way my six-year-old Phoebe thought about the medicine she had to take recently. She had a bacterial infection and needed amoxicillin three times a day for ten days. She did not hunger for this medicine. She did not desire it. She tasted it and, in her opinion, it was not good. Over time we were able to convince her to take it with a smile because even though it was not good it was good for her.

Is that how you approach God’s Word? You don’t hunger for it, you don’t desire it, but you’ll receive it because you know it’s good for you? Let me challenge you, Christian, if you’ve tasted that the Lord is good then you should have an appetite for His Word. Why? Because when you encounter the Word of God you encounter the God of the Word. If you hunger for God, then you will hunger for His Word. That’s where you’ll meet Him! Jesus puts it this way in a conversation with the Jewish leaders in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me.”

The first time my family went to Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville we saw all these signs for apple cider donuts. Now I may be weird, but that didn’t sound very appealing to me. But the kids insisted, so we bought a half dozen. I figured I’d try a bite or two, and then give the rest to the kids. Until I had my first taste. But once I tasted, I knew they were good. I think we went back to the checkout counter two more times before we left. That first taste awakened our appetite for more.

May God do the same for you. May He awaken your appetite for His Word as you taste and see that He is good.  

 

[i] Greg W Forbes, 1 Peter, Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2014), 56.