That 100% whole fat milk

 

“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” 1 Peter 2,1-3

This verse really popped out to me as I read my Bible right after putting my son down for his morning nap. I usually breastfeed him, then give him his binky and rock him to sleep. 

When it’s time for that breastmilk though, my goodness, he is active. He can’t wait, he’s reaching, grabbing, doing everything his little body can do to get himself closer to that milk. And when he gets, boy is he excited, he holds on with two hands, latches hard and eats ravenously. And I mean ravenously, like excuse me but you just ate an hour ago, yet he cannot get enough. 

Sometimes I even have to stop him because he’s eating too much and will have bad reflux if I let him keep going. He really stuffs himself and even though he’s content with what he has, he’s never content. If I offered it to him two seconds later he’d act just as excited and eat just as ravenously. He’s 5 months ans a hefty 17+ pounds. He’s so chubby sometimes we joke that he could eat other babies if they got too close. Ha!

But he’s healthy, he’s robust, he could go a few hours without starving (not that I would let him), but the point is... he desires that pure milk and he grows from it, he longs for it, I’m pretty sure it’s all he thinks about. When he’s asleep his lips suck in his dreams. The boy loves milk! Just like we should love the word of God. We should desire God's word with such fervent longing, we should think about it day, night, in our dreams, (Psalm 1,2 "...in His law he meditates day and night")  

We should eat it up till we’re full of it and yet never be content, never saying enough is enough, always hungry for more. 

And as we devour the word of the Lord, we'll learn to know it well and delight in it. Let me tell you, my son doesn’t have to open his eyes to scream his head off because daddy picked him up and not mommy. And when he gets passed to me and I hold him close, and he knows what’s coming, even with his eyes still closed, he settles, he snuggles up, he opens his mouth in preparation to be filled. 

The Lord says to open your mouth wide and He will feel it (Ps.81,10). 

He will fill our hearts, our day, our lives, our souls. He wants to fill us to the brim, and He wants his word to be comfort, balm, reassurance and instruction. He wants us to desire the milk of the Bible, the sustenance of life, the very thing that will plump us up and prepare us to walk with Him throughout our life.

My son finds such comfort, joy and satisfaction with every meal. We can find that too in the word, but are you showing up for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Are you showing up for snacks in between and midnight munchies? Are you as hungry and desperate and longing for the word of the Lord, like a newborn babe is for their mother's milk? 

Let’s fill ourselves with Jesus Christ and His word, and get so plump in the knowledge and grace of God that people see our lives, just like their see fat little newborns, and think, "Oh yeah, that one doesn't skip a single meal, that one is being fed to the full."