1 Peter 2:1–3 1Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Did you read verse three? “If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Those who have not accepted Christ into their lives have not “tasted that the Lord is gracious.” They may have heard about God’s graciousness. They may have with their mouths professed Christ. They may have even intellectually accepted Christ’s words found in the Bible. BUT, they have never truly accepted Christ in their hearts. There is no way, absolutely no way they can strip off or lay aside anything of this world.
Peter says as Christians, followers of Christ, those who profess Jesus as Savior are to accept Him as the LORD of their lives. Intellectual acceptance is not salvation. Satan has more intellectual acceptance of God than we will ever have in this earthly life. Remember he was one of the angels in Heaven.
How we dress is important. Spiritually, when we accepted Christ into our lives our spiritual dress changed. No longer do we wear the clothing of sin. We have been given new clothing. We do not enter God’s Kingdom without the proper clothing. Read Matthew 22:1-14. Many may try to come into God’s Kingdom, to the wedding without the proper clothing but will not be allowed in. Peter says we must lay aside all things of this world. We must get rid of the filthy rags of this world and allow God to clean our lives. My mother would say, “there is nothing more innocent as a new born baby”.
Babies do not stay innocent. They grow up. They learn the things of this world. They end up learning about and practicing sin. Peter tells us we must put away the things of this world, the things that take us away from God and replace them with the things of God. Verse 3 is important. Peter understands not all his readers have accepted Christ. So, he writes, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious? Have you been cleansed by the Spirit of God? Have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you living your life for God or self? Do you know if you were to die this moment, where you will spend eternity?