Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
The teaching of Hebrews 5:13 somewhat overshadows the importance of this passage. Often milk is considered only good for the young and often in church, the new Christian is spoon-fed drops of spiritual milk. It is hoped in time that they might know sufficient Bible stories to hang some doctrine on and so develop their faith and knowledge. Yet the apostle Peter encourages us to crave pure spiritual milk. There is no out down in his thinking. The Christian has tasted that the Lord is good, so we know the spiritual taste buds are in working order. Notice that there has to be a craving. The human mind craves after many things and often to our detriment. We are encouraged to crave after that which can only do us good, so our drink is pure. Our spiritual milk must be pure unadulterated religion but it is hard to find.
Traditions of men are seen in our churches as of foremost importance. Even those assemblies who try so hard to steer from the outward trapping of worship fall into a tradition of doing the same things week in and week out. But let us at least do our best to struggle to get to grips with God's word so we might read and understand what has been given to us. We must have spiritual milk. The world clamours for success in sport or vocation or anything else that might thrill us. There are no gold medals or citations for those who have a spiritual life, but there is laid up for the faithful the crown of life. Lastly, we need milk so that we might grow and be strong. We need spiritual food so it can be digested. Happy is the soul who feeds well at such a Heavenly table.
