Time To Grow Up

God's blessings and benefits should motivate us to live for him.

1 Peter 2:1-3 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness.

Ephesians 4:30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

1 Timothy 4:8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

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In chapter one Peter wrote about the new life in Christ that the church in Asia Minor had, he told them of all of the benefits that they inherited as a Christ follower. Peter wrote about the blessings, the ability to go through trials with joy, about Christ payment for their sin and about the way that Christ showed us how to really love.

Chapter two starts out by suggesting that because of all of the those blessings and benefits that we have received we should be motivated to grow up and the internal change in our lives should make a difference to our external. People should see a difference in us, instead of "deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech," they should see people that exercise self-control and are striving to be holy through being obedient to God. (1 Peter 1:13-15)

Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

As a new Christ follower you are probably well aware of how much you have failed to live up to God's standard. it isn't easy to change your lifestyle, it will take training to get rid of the behavior that is unpleasing to God. A new born babe needs the basic milk of God's word to get them started in growing up to be the person that God wants them to be.

Job 23:12 I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food.

The desire for the Word of God is a very effective indicator of a person’s spiritual condition. The Bible has been the best selling book for a long time but it is also the least read book. We need to have a passion for God's word and take delight in learning about him and his desires for our lives. A new babe in Christ will have the same instinct to take in the "pure spiritual milk" that a new born infant has to nurse on his mothers milk.

Too many of God's children get stuck in the habit of showing up at church and having the Bible read and explained to them. It's a great place to start but that's not the only time each week that you should get fed. We need to be digging deeper into the word for ourselves and meditating on it in personal quiet time and in small group Bible study.

I need to be in in Bible study and personal quiet time in order to grow up in Christ. God expects us to move out of the milk years and move on to eating meat, being lazy about your spiritual development isn't a good idea, it is a dangerous condition that Satan will try and take advantage of.