It Does a Body Good

1 Peter 2:2

“as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…”

I have vivid memories of the television commercials of my youth that showed a scrawny young boy who would drink a glass of milk and turn into a strong young man. Or it would use the image of an awkward pre-teen girl who would turn into a beautiful, shapely young woman. As a child, these images were powerful in my mind. I wanted to grow up strong and beautiful, and the tag line of those commercials, “Milk, it does a body good!” made me believe in the power of that beverage.

In reality, Milk may not make an awkward child turn into a gorgeous young person, but it is a powerful substance. It is the first thing that newborns eat/drink and it contains all the necessary ingredients to help that baby grow in body and in mind. Without that milk, an infant cannot survive, for they are unable to eat or digest anything else.

Our spiritual lives are no different. We need the nourishment that will help us grow and strengthen in our walk with God. As babies we need the milk of our mothers to achieve this, but spiritually it is the milk of our Heavenly Father that we need to mature – the Word. The Word of God is our key to growing up spiritually to become strong and faithful believers.

In the commercials, they stretched the truth with the promise that we would turn out beautiful and strong if we drank those glasses of milk. Obviously, there is no guarantee that we would turn out that way, but the commercials did a good job of selling that idea to us. However, spiritually we do have a guarantee: If we give our lives to Jesus Christ and accept him as our Savior, we will be saved. And if we nourish our spirits with the spiritual milk of the Word of God, we are guaranteed to become stronger and more faithful in our walk with God. And that kind of guarantee just sells itself.

So tell me… Have you had your Milk today?