Try Acting Like a Baby
These days offer plenty of reasons to be fearful, angry, and just generally unsettled. Today being election day, so much of what we look to for stability shakes under the stresses of life, writ large, punctuated by a hurricane or two, and wars across the globe. In days like these, it’s good for Jesus-followers to remember, prune back, and press forward.
In our Sunday class at church, working through 1 Peter, we are finding so much that we might apply in our days. Peter writes from Rome to small groups of believers scattered across what is now Turkey and who are getting kicked around the yard for their faith. The pressures of the tough times apparently have led them to get chippy with each other. Peter, at the top of ch.2, addresses this trend in them that we can relate to as well.
Therefore, lay aside all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, since you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
In the face of days like these, Peter says, “Remember. Prune back. Press forward.”
Grammatically, this is one idea captured in a long sentence, and taking the last phrase of the text first, he calls for us to not forget to remember. In the middle of any mess it’s so easy to forget what we have experienced with God. Tasting the kindness of the Lord leaves us wanting more of the same.
Think of a favorite food that once tasted spurs you on to seek out more. I’m a “salty-crunchy” lover, and a memory of a really good snack sends me on a search for more, and as a consequence no quality chip bag is safe in my presence. Peter calls his readers to deeply remember tasting the goodness of life with Jesus, and reflect on that goodness as a ground for action when the heat gets turned up. So, roll the tape of times when God’s kindness toward you left you wanting more. Let it stick to the roof of you mind. Taste it again.
Then backing up to the beginning, he calls believers to be ruthless in their pruning of all the junk that stressful times can bring out in people and that is not at all like the “kindness of the Lord.” He lists five bad sprouts to be pruned back since each will destroy both community and personal growth.
Malice: Think ill will or spite, making sure to make someone pay, like all those juicy revenge movies. And he says take all of it away…it doesn’t fit you.
Deceit: Playing for an advantage at another’s expense, the word is used for a fishing lure or fly looking good but hiding a dangerous barb. Again, every bit of it needs to go.
Hypocrisy: Acting two-faced, disingenuous, saying one thing and meaning/doing another. I’m sure you’ve never done that, but when you sniff it out, you hate it.
Envy: Simply wanting what you don’t have that another has, often the last sin to be confessed because it can be so easily justified.
Slander: File this under gossip, back-biting, “bless her heart.” And, of every kind, get rid of it.
Peter could write these five specific things in a general letter because they are so universal. He teaches that they have nothing to do with a believer’s new identity in Christ. Yet good folks can let circumstances or differences suck them into any or all of these behaviors, that can become habitual, eventually dominating a person’s character. As they pop up, ruthlessly prune them back.
The next verse gives the alternative way forward in days like these. Press forward by acting like a baby. Newborns are focused on the breast. They don’t want junk foods like Coke and Doritos, have nothing to do with wings and beer, they know what’s best: their mother’s milk. Instinctively, babies know what their bodies need to grow. Peter simply says, “Take a clue from a baby.” Translators have fun trying to find an English word that conveys the meaning, so you will read, “crave” or “desire” or “yearn for” when it comes to a believer’s approach to getting fed. This comes through spending time with the Bible, time with Jesus, tuning in to the Spirit’s guidance, and committing to an encouraging community. Ignoring what nourishes you will inevitably stunt growth and lead to the big five errors of vs.1.
Staying calm and balanced in days like these call for me and you to act decisively rather than drift with the anger or fear or distrust surrounding us. Remembering God’s kindness makes pruning easier. Clearing the decks of soul trash like the five faults sets me up to rekindle what feeds my heart and true self.
Behind Peter’s admonition stands the truth that any Christ follower is vulnerable to succumbing to joining the angry, fearful, retributive crowd that seems to make up much of our information diet. But you have tasted the kindness of the Lord up close and in person. You have been redeemed through Jesus and his work on the cross. You are loved beyond measure.
Take a page from any baby you see and seek what feeds you best with all your heart.
Act like a baby.
Music time…
How about bad jokes? You betcha
The school of agriculture's dean of admissions was interviewing a prospective student, "Why have you chosen this career?" he asked.
"I dream of making a million dollars in farming, like my father," the student replied.
"Your father made a million dollars in farming?" echoed the dean much impressed.
"No," replied the applicant. "But he always dreamed of it."
__________
Halfway through dinner one night, our friend told us of his days playing football in college as a defensive lineman.
"Did you play sports in college," his wife then asked me.
"Yes," I answered. "I was on West Point's shooting team."
"That's great," she said, appropriately impressed. "Offense or defense?"