Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:1-3
At my church this weekend, the service was about getting rid of the ugliness about us. For those who are in addiction recovery, we know this list is kinda long and extends past just the actual addiction.Our pastor pointed out something in the passage that I really never noticed before..it was the word "crave". The passage does not say "drink" the spiritual milk, but rather that we need to crave it. When I first became a Christian, a friend remarked that I was so "hungry" for the Word of God. And only later did I realize what she was referring to.
When we crave something, it's our brain saying that we have to have "it", that we can't control the impulse and that it's almost impossible to resist. Umm...sound familiar? Just have to have that drink? Just one more? Just have to watch that porn on the computer? Just have to always be right? Just have to shoot up? Just have to buy those pants even though I have 12 other pairs at home? Can't resist it, huh?
Once we have tasted the goodness of the Lord, it's what we need to crave. It's the spiritual milk that is going to heal us and help us move on from the world of addiction. I'm not perfect at all and I too need to work on this craving of the Lord in everything I do. And I'm also learning that when the temptation comes for my addiction, that I have to have a plan in place to handle the physical crave. We can still have the end reward (the feelings we got from the addiction), but we need to replace the bad habit with a new habit.
Practical applications - replace the addiction with reading the Bible, talking to a friend, going to the gym, attending a Celebrate Recovery meeting or a traditional 12 step meeting, any Green Light recoveryBox light!!
And so I ask you to think about this today. "What do you crave?"
