Crave the Word

“Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

Let me give you three words to unpack the truth contained here. Write them in the margin of your Bible, next to this verse. The first one is attitude. Peter is describing the attitude of a newborn baby. Just as the baby grabs for the bottle, so you grab for the Book. The baby has to have milk to sustain its life physically; you have to have the Scriptures to sustain your life spiritually.

Jeanne and I had four children, and when they were babies we learned early on that about every three or four hours a timer goes off inside an infant—and you’d better not ignore it. You’d better get a bottle of milk there fast. As soon as you do, there’s a great calm. Peter picks up that expressive figure and says that’s to be your attitude toward Scripture.

But he also says a word about your appetite for the Word. You should “long” for it, he says. You’re to crave the spiritual milk of God’s Word.

Now to be honest, that’s a cultivated taste. Every now and then somebody will say to me, “You know, Professor Hendricks, I’m really not getting very much out of the Bible.” But that’s a greater commentary on the person than it is on the Book. — Living By the Book: The Art and Science of Reading the Bible by Howard Hendricks