Grow, Grow, Grow

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now the you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2:2-3 (NIV)

Our youngest granddaughter Mary Clayton is now one week old. She is a sweet baby, but when she's hungry, she's got a loud and long cry. Her Mama noted this week that it's a different cry from her sisters' cries. Mary Clayton's hungry cries have been described as a little bit angry and a lot impatient! When Mary Clayton is hungry, her Mama's milk is the only thing that will satisfy and quiet her.

The Apostle Peter, himself a married man (Luke 4:38), certainly understood a newborn infant's cry for her Mama's milk. Peter uses that exact word picture to challenges us to crave or long for the pure milk of God's Word. That longing for God's Word should lead us to taste, feed, and eventually feast on it. Feeding leads to growth and growth leads to maturity.

The other night four-year old Caroline provided another object lesson on feeding and growing in God's Word. Caroline and Julia (6) had enjoyed pizza and a movie night at our house. When they got home, both girls were tired and ready for bed. It was late and somehow prayers and their nightly Bible devotional were omitted from their usual bedtime routine. A little while later, Caroline came downstairs crying and declared, "I don't want to shrink!" Her Mama and Daddy attempted to soothe her thinking she'd had a bad dream. Caroline, still crying, insisted, "I don't want to shrink!'

It turns out that Caroline really had listened in Sunday School when her teacher taught her a children's song:

"If you read your Bible and pray every day

You will grow, grow, grow.

If you don't read your Bible and pray every day

You will shrink, shrink, shrink!"

"I want my Bible verse and prayers," Caroline begged.

I want Caroline's appetite for God's Word and prayer, not to avoid shrinking, but to grow in God's grace and wisdom, not for information, but for transformation. Once again the Apostle Peter challenges me when he writes, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)

Oh, that we would all long for the milk of God's Word and grow in His grace!