But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job 16:5 (NIV)
| Newborns'
"Easy" Growth by Cathy Vinson |
There are many
attributes of God, but one in particular that seems associated to our growth. It is His
goodness, goodness in the sense of being "gracious, kind, pleasant, easy." This
is abundantly imparted to the "newborn babe" (vs 1) initiating his entrance,
making it irresistible but to taste. Here Peter beckons the believers to crave this perception of God (milk) and build upon its original taste. It means increase to the spiritual nature. In maturing, the development of God's character to us perhaps experiences slippage from this initial goodness of God. No wonder He tells us to the "faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless...blameless, the pure...pure, crooked...shrewd" (2 Sam 22:27). The newborn babe initially tastes of the good, fair, pleasant, "easy" milk of the Lord and "grows thereby." We are told as then to "long after" that type of nourishment. We can see this easily in our human relationships. For what encourages increase to relationships as we know them? Is it through rigidity and demands? God knows this atmosphere is "against us" and "opposed to us" (Col 2:14). No, as a newborn longs after milk and drinks to his growth best in fair and kind surroundings, it is for us to seek the fair winds of newborn salvation perception, that we, too will grow thereby. . |
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| "so that you may grow
in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good (chrestos)" 1 Pet 2:2 |
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Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion.
Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE
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