Have You Tasted The Word?

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Scripture:

1Pet. 2:1  ¶ Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.
1Pet. 2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—
1Pet. 2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Observation:

The connection here is directly to 1Pet. 1:22,  "Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth."  The one who has been "born again" is to actively participate in their new life.  This new section begins by speaking of actions which are to be taken.  There are certain behaviors which are unacceptable to the follower of Jesus Christ.  We are to rid ourselves of those for they have been our spiritual food and they are leading us to destruction.  Instead, we are to long for the good stuff -- the good food.  This food is "pure, spiritual milk" that will help us to grow in our faith.  This is what we receive when we feed on the word of God.  Verse three points us to Psa. 34:8,  "O taste and see that the LORD is good;  happy are those who take refuge in him."  When we "taste" of the Lord we will discover how good he is and we will desire nothing more.  

Application:

It seems I go through phases in life when I become rather addicted to certain foods or flavors.  One of my all-time favorite things to eat is a Reese's peanut butter cup.  There is something about the mix of peanut butter and chocolate that I just love.  Now, chop that up and add it to ice cream and I'm not sure there is anything better.  So, on a hot summer night it seems that the Handel's ice cream shop which is on my way home from work just seems to be screaming my name.  What could be better than a frozen custard mixed with Reese's?  Once you have "tasted" this frozen delight you will want to go back for more.

The same becomes true in our spiritual walk.  Once we begin to taste the presence of the Lord and taste the word of God, we will want to go back for more and more.  We will have trouble being satisfied with anything else.  The more I spend time in prayer, the more time I want to spend in prayer.  There is something about God's presence that becomes so enticing that I don't want to be pulled away by the things of the world.  When I do find myself in a place that is completely at odds with God I can literally sense the absence of his presence.  There is a vacuum and a cold darkness when the space is not filled with God.  Once we begin to be sensitive to these differences we will want to scramble back to be in his presence  -- we will crave him, we will long for him.  Have you tasted the word today?

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the sweetness of your word.  Amen.

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