lion rebel

In the first chapter of his first letter, Peter’s whole premise lines up with the entirety of the word of God: our old life is distant from God, yet our new life has established a complete relationship with him for eternity. He describes the direct difference between being born of a physical seed (man’s sperm) and the spiritual seed of God’s Word of Life.

And it seems that he draws a line between the two with such distinction that it is a bit of a strange turn when he starts out the second chapter with this: So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. It’s obvious that though the work of God, by his Spirit and his Word and the sacrifice of his Son bring instantaneous effects, there also is a transition, a learning, a growing, a depth of change that comes with the continued choices we make and the constant movement toward Christ and his Word.

Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. The pure spiritual milk of Christ – Eugene Peterson puts it like this: “like infants at the breast, drink of God’s pure kindness.” Desperate for that fix, for that touch, for that intimate exchange of sustenance and love from the God of all humankind – that is to be our constant state of mind, rather than the lazy betrayal of ourselves on absent thought at a time.