Thought of the Day !!

You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness.

                                              1 Peter 2:2-3 (NLT)

What does it mean to grow into the fullness of our salvation?  I see this as maturing as Christians.  When we are born again, we are changed in a miraculous way.  But at the same time, our behavior and thinking may not be totally changed. 

The new birth is just the beginning, not the end of our salvation story.  It is then that God justifies us...that He forgives us and makes us worthy of His redemption.  Then we are to begin a new life where we look at things differently.  We'll continue to have pitfalls, failures and successes.  We can learn from each one and grow in our relationship with God from each one.  These are the things that will build us.  And we should be able to look back daily and say to ourselves, "I'm not where I should be yet, but I'm much better off than I was."  

After we're born again, the goal is for us to continue to mature, or as Wesley put it, to go on towards perfection.  So what we must realize is that the new birth and/or baptism is not the end of our salvation story.  These are just the beginning.  Let us all crave the pure spiritual milk that God has to offer us and grow into the fullness of our salvation.

In the love of Christ,

greg