07/12/11

These pictures are from mine and Steve's anniversary trip to Boone. We ate at a wonderful restaurant called Crippen's for our anniversary splurge night.

Steve had the steak.... my meat and potatoes man.

I had the pecan-encrusted grouper. OH yeah... I could have licked the plate when I was done.

I love food... don't you?

I have learned to venture out in the food world and eat things that a few years ago I wouldn't have dared to try.... the above picture is proof of that. I am learning to dive in to some cuisines that before scared me. :)

Could you go a whole day without food?

Probably.

I know I would be quite hungry, but I could make it.

Imagine going a whole week without food.

Imagine going a whole month.

You would definitely be hungry but there would be other physical signs, too... irritability, headache, lack of energy, inability to think clearly, etc...

We have been studying I Peter in Sunday School recently. A couple of Sundays ago we looked more closely at this verse.... or at least the Lord brought it closer to my attention!!!

I Peter 2:2
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

When I used to think about or quote that verse, I read it as if it had no commas. You may think that strange.

You try. Read it like I used to:

As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby.

You may not see what I see, but I am, of course, going to share it with you!

When I read it without commas I ran all of that together and looked at it only through eyes of babies drink milk and that is how they grow. I knew the true meaning of what the Lord expressed that He wanted us to grow in Him, but it never stuck out to me like it did the day the Lord showed me the comma.

Let's break it apart and repeat it again WITH the commas:

As newborn babes, (COMMA - means you are going to pause a minute - you are thinking about a baby drinking milk... maybe you have one envisioned in your head),

desire the sincere milk of the word, (COMMA - pause another minute... give it time to sink in... do you really think about what desire means????),

that ye may grow thereby. (growing... not just physically here)

Here is the definition of "desire:"

to wish or long for; crave; want.

or; crave; want.

Just like those little babies get hungry and desire their food of milk, we also should get hungry for God's Word and desire (crave , wish for , long for, WANT) it so we can grow, just as a baby grows when he/she is nourished.

Are you desiring the milk of the Word?

Are you getting fed?

Remember how I told you to imagine going without food for a day, week, or month up above? How do we as Christians think we are going to grow stronger in the Lord if we are not fed on His Word daily?

We will not.

You may be able to go a day without reading God's Word and be just fine.

You may be able to go a week.

After that week you may start noticing some spiritual changes, though. You may start noticing some old habits creeping back in.

When our spiritual life is filled with junk food instead of the nourishing food from the Lord, we don't have the energy or the knowledge to fight off our greatest and most subtle enemy - Satan.

Don't allow those ailments we can get physically from not eating (headache, irritability, lack of energy), turn into SPIRITUAL ailments from not feasting on God's Word. I Peter 2:1 talks about these:

malice
( ill will, spite, spitefulness; animosity, enmity; malevolence; venom, hate, hatred; bitterness, rancor)

guile
(duplicity, fraud, trickery)

envy
(resent, begrudge, covet)

slander
(a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report)

My challenge to you today is to DESIRE and read God's Word so that the Lord can take away these types of spiritual ailments and help you to grow!

By my desiring to learn more about God's Word, He was able to show me a comma and I thank Him for that! May the Lord show you a "comma" today, too.