We will soon begin a new year, and it’s a good time to resolve to grow in our spiritual walk. The most important requirement for spiritual growth is a steady diet of God’s Word, a treasure of inestimable value. In 1 Peter 1:24-25, Peter quotes from the prophet Isaiah, using Isaiah’s words which were initially spoken to the Israelites in the Old Testament to also relate to the gospel: “For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” Peter then immediately calls for repentance of the sins of malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander in 2:1 before encouraging believers in 2:2-3 to, “Long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
If we desire to grow, we must first search our hearts for sin that needs to be dealt with: Do we feel malice toward someone? Are we always honest, or are we sometimes deceitful with others and ourselves? Do we work harder at looking spiritual than we do at being spiritual? Do we resent others who achieve or acquire good things? Do we slander others? Removing these sins from our lives is the first step toward spiritual growth.
Then we must resolve to study the Word of God with a thirst for truth, recognizing the Word of God as the utmost source of truth and allowing it to pervade our lives. Paul encourages the Colossians to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”(Colossians 3:16). Our passion to learn and follow the Word of God will affect the Christians around us. Paul’s encouragement to Timothy was to, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth”(2 Timothy 2:15). Handling the Word of God correctly is necessary to make certain we have, “no need to be ashamed,” and to avoid leading others astray. In the verses that follow, Paul emphasizes the danger of incorrect teaching with some rather alarming words and phrases describing the danger: “irreverent . . . ungodliness . . . spread like gangrene . . . swerved from the truth . . . upsetting the faith of some”(2 Timothy 2:16-18). See the “Basics for Bible Study” page on this blog to help protect yourself from incorrect interpretation.
We are greatly blessed to have the completed Word of God. Let’s resolve to take advantage of the treasure within it and the blessing God offers those who study it honestly.