Hungry Christians


You have a little baby. It has lost its appetite. Hours pass and it will not take its milk. It is becoming weak. You are afraid it will die. In the same way Peter worries over his spiritual children. “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” (1Pet.2:2). One big meal a month, or even a week, will not keep a child alive. Spiritual children too require a daily intake.

  1. You need to become a child. The first step in the Christian life is the new birth. A corpse has no appetite. If you do not enjoy sermons or Bible reading it could be proof that you are still unconverted. A doll can be dressed up like a child. Some can even talk and cry but they have no appetite. You may improve your life, stop certain sins and start religious practices, but that will not change you into a child of God. Only the new birth does that.

  2. You need milk to grow. It is not enough to be born. Too many seem to stop there. You must feed on the milk of God’s Word. It contains encouragement, direction, and rebuke. Central to it all is Christ. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn.6:53). Jesus is not referring to communion but to feeding on Him by faith. Use all the means of grace. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is” (Heb.10:25). Remember a burning coal taken out of the fire will soon die. No age has had more good books yet most Christians are satisfied with the odd little paperback. Our fathers could put this educated generation to shame. Yet modern Christians know it all and what they do not know they dismiss as splitting theological hairs. Why is the Church so weak? It is because, “If you won’t eat your food you won’t grow up”.

  3. You must avoid poison. We put weed-killer out of the reach of children. We would not drink it ourselves. “Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies and all evil speakings” (1Pet.2:1). All that is spiteful, cunning, nasty, hurtful and hypocritical must be rejected. Unkind words destroy ourselves before they destroy others.

  4. You should long for milk. For the first while all a child wants is milk. Yes it needs cleaning, warmth and love but especially milk. It will cry and scream for it and no amount of toys will quieten it. Desire the milk so that you will grow. Every child wants to become an adult. Also if you have experienced the graciousness of the Lord you will want more. Having tasted the fatted calf, you will not long for the husks that the swine eat. Be happy, healthy children, avoiding poison and drinking deeply the milk of God’s Word.


    Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the editor.

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