Quickening—Part 4

Christians must daily fill their minds and hearts with the word of God.  The comprehensive reasons why are all implied or expressed in that wonderful passage in Peter’s first letter: “Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord” (1 Peter 2:2-3).  Why do newborn infants desire milk?  The first reason is necessity, they simply cannot live without the nourishment it provides.  In the same way, the spiritual life of the Christian cannot be sustained without God’s word.  Secondly, infants by nature have an appetite for milk, their craving for it cannot be removed.  Similarly, the new nature of the Christian has a natural desire and “taste” for the word of God that can be satisfied by nothing else.  We must read the Bible and hear it preached, or die.  Thirdly, when infants have experienced the vigor and strength that comes from the milk, they want more.  Even so, Christians who have “tasted” the goodness of God’s word, will desire to experience its benefits, its “quickening,” every day.  I think this also reveals to us why many Christians neglect the Bible, why they have little desire to read Scripture.  They have never enjoyed the reviving power of God’s word in their own experience.  Or, more accurately, they have never clearly recognized what the word of God has done for them!