Which Way Are You Growing?

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-2

The Apostle Peter tells Christians to lay aside these five things listed in verse 1. They are all characteristics of fallen man.
Peter, under the direction of the Holy Spirit is pointing out some of the negative things that are affecting people in the church. He is assuming that since people are now believers that they will change the way they live. How shocking! How could God be so presumptuous as to ask us to conform to a new belief system and to live a life that turns its back on the world and its ways?
I fear that as a Christian I sometimes ignore the commands of the Word of God in order to live a life style that is more convenient to the 21st century. What a mistake it is to brush off these protections that have been put in place to help us to grow into the fullness of our salvation.
“As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word.” Our goal here, according to the Word, is to regress from our human ways and sophistication and become like a hungry child craving that which is good. A newborn has not had the time to learn all the negative habits of the world. All it knows is it must drink milk. That is what the new Christian needs to experience, not all the dogma of denominationalism or even how to dress to be accepted in the church. What one must do is crave to know God through His word leaving behind all the things that would taint their new relationship to their heavenly Father.
When this principle of Christian behavior is followed then a newborn babe will not only grow, but will do it in the strength that can only come through God. The prophet Jeremiah would say, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” (Jeremiah 15:16a)
Have we become too laid back as Christians? Have the commands of the Bible become suggestions rather than ordinances? If they have then we won’t grow into the men and women that God desires us to be.
Are we becoming more like Christ, or more like the world? Let’s take a look at our lives and evaluate what direction our Christian path is taking and then make the necessary adjustments.