GROW INTO YOUR SALVATION (PT 1)
1 PETER 2:2 (AMP)
“Like newborn babies [you should] long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may be nurtured and grow in respect to salvation [its ultimate fulfillment],”
This week our discussion is about Growing Into Your Salvation and the Apostle Peter likens it to newborn babies desiring milk. What an interesting and thought provoking analogy! Everyone associated with a newborn baby, especially mothers knows that the first and only type of food given to a newborn is milk. No solids or heavy foods like porridge, however nutritious, are given to the newborn until the stomach, and lungs are developed and the baby understands how to move the inner parts of the mouth to send food from the lips to the throat and stomach. To do otherwise would either suffocate or cause damage to the baby’s trachea canal, and possibly create long-term health issues.
Most newborn babies spend a lot of time sleeping, but they’ll wake up every few hours to feed during the day and night, possibly every 2-3 hours. Doctors use milestones to tell if a baby is developing as expected. There is a wide range of what is considered normal, so some babies may gain skills earlier or later than others.
The apostle Peter is saying that likewise should the newborn in Christ desire and be fed the sincere milk of the Word of God for nourishment in the things of God. Having received salvation, it is important to live on the word of God daily and as often as possible. This is not the time to be feeding on other inspirational books, however beneficial they may be. As solid food, however appetizing and nutritious, the baby cannot and should not partake of it, likewise the newborn believer.
To grow in our salvation we need to feed on the mind of God and the inspiration of God and not that of man, however inspirational they are. We need to constantly feed on the actual unadulterated Word of God so that we are instructed in the right way; so that we are corrected from all of our misguided beliefs and misunderstanding of what a believer’s life should be, who God is and His expectation of us as recipients of His Salvation and work of the Cross.
As a newborn baby becomes malnourished and loses its ability to develop as it should, due to lack of nourishing milk from its mother’s breast, likewise the believer’s development would be impeded by watered down and diluted teachings outside of the Word of God. There are many types and kinds of milk out there, but none guarantees positive development in a baby like the mother’s milk, whether it is a human baby or an animal’s. Likewise, there are many good spiritual books out there but none can feed and develop and newborn in Christ like the Holy Bible.
The sincere milk of the word of God ensures development and growth in your salvation which eventually leads you to maturity. The apostle Paul was faced with this problem in the church at Corinth where he said, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able” (1 Corinthian 3:1-2 KJV). Even as they believed and he fed them with the word of God they had not developed enough to be renewed in their minds of the things of God. He said they were still carnal fighting over who Paul was as if it was he who gave them salvation, who died on the Cross for them. There was still engaged in envying, strife, and divisions among them.
Like a newborn baby, they need time to assimilate and digest the milk they are fed for development and maturity to take place and manifest. So very often we see newborn babies in Christ are thrown into offices of service that they have not matured and mentored into, and they do things that hurt believers and the body of Christ. Paul told the church that he fed them with milk not with meat, which meant he gave them the right food but they had not yet matured and therefore were not able to receive more. The baby must be given time to develop, be evaluated and assessed in the stages of progress.
The author of Hebrews, who in times like these I tend to believe is the Apostle Paul, arguably so, says strongly, “Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
My sentiments exactly. He orated it beautifully. The milk stage of the new believer is essential and once in this stage of development, is not ready to teach others. All babies do not develop at the same pace and time. Therefore, we do not put a time frame on a new believer’s development and maturity, but we work with them at their pace. The author is saying that because of slow development, someone who is teaching may need more teaching themselves. A teacher is one who has developed and graduated to strong meat because they understand the rudiments of a life in Jesus Christ. They understand what salvation is all about and are walking in their salvation and growing from grace to grace and strength to strength. They can now turn around and teach others the journey of salvation. They understand and are able to discern both good and evil with no blurred lines.
Once we are saved, it is vitally important that we pursue growth in our salvation by sitting down and developing a desire for the Word of God so that we grow and mature in the things of God. Let us pursue the word of God for it is the sincere milk and develop a love and hunger for it so that we may grow in our salvation and become mature in the things that pertain to righteousness.
