Taste and see
by Anne Lawrence
As a baby we are helpless and dependent on our parents for food and care. Very early on all we know is what we need for our immediate comfort – things like warmth, safety, love and good milk. If this was provided, then that environment helped us to grow – physically through the food and warmth, and spiritually through the love and care. In this passage, Peter is reminding the believers that as young Christians they, like a baby, craved these things to grow spiritually.
Interestingly he reminds them that they ‘tasted that the Lord is good’ (my emphasis). This refers back to Psalm 34:8 ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good.’ As a child we taste our mother’s milk and it tastes sweet and good. We know that it’s good for us. If anyone had given us something that was not good for us, we would have known and probably spat it out. Ugh! Horrible!
For the young Christian, they taste the sweetness of the Lord’s presence, love and truth in His word. This taste gradually becomes familiar and is what brings peace and rest to our spirits and souls.
Peter started by talking about things we should rid ourselves of: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. Having tasted the sweet taste of the Lord, those things - malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander - should taste bitter and we should want to immediately spit them out. Those things bring unrest and disruption to our spirits and souls. So, let’s make the choice to spit them out – to put them off and repent - and to take in the sweetness of the Lord through His love and His Word.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the sweetness of Your presence and Your living word. I choose to feed on those things as I walk through today. Please help me to recognise things which are not of You and give me the strength to immediately spit them out. Lord take my hand as I walk into today – feeding on Your goodness. Amen.
Anne Lawrence joined the team at Ellel Grange in 2010 and is the Deputy Centre Director. She is married to Paul, Centre Director. Anne previously worked in education. Her last post was CEO of a College in Dublin. She has written courses, syllabi and a book for the English for Work series published by Longman. She has a heart for the broken and a passion to see people set free and released into more of what the Lord has for them. She loves to teach, listen, worship and create things.
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