I'm Changing My Diet

Peter says the following in 1 Peter 2:1-3:

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Peter's telling the church to stop consuming spiritual foods that malnourish us.  In my message on this passage, I highlighted the fact that our life before Christ is driven by the conviction that this life is all we've got.  This in turn forces us to prioritize two things:

Survival – the need to extend our lifespans using any means necessary;

Success – the need to acquire for ourselves everything we can using any means necessary.

Peter identifies spiritual “foods” that serve these two priorities:

Malice –advancing our ends by hurting others.

Deceit – distorting the truth for selfish purposes.

Hypocrisy – falsely representing ourselves as better than we really are.

Envy – wanting to possess what someone else has.

Slander – making others look bad to make ourselves feel good.

When we resort to these, we may in fact extend our lifespans; we may even derive maximal enjoyment, prosperity and security for our 70 plus years of life.  But our lives will become self-fulfilling prophecies – there will be nothing left for us when our days on earth come to an end.

Jesus Christ offers his disciples a source of life that cannot be extinguished – the Spirit of God.  Peter reminds the church that they have received this life source, too.  The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in them.  This being the case, says Peter, don’t malnourish it.  Don’t consume spiritual junk food.  Feed on “the living Word of God” (1:23), and live.