There are five things to put away from our lives, and they are all listed in 1st Peter 2:1 below.......and, then the one thing to desire, and a reason for it are found in verse 2, and 3.
1st Peter 2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
1st Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
1st Peter 2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
First of all then, what to get rid of. As mentioned, there are five of them.
1. Malice.
2. All deceit.
3. Hypocrisy.
4. Envy.
5. All evil speaking.
Malice is plain old wickedness. It's when you desire to hurt someone else. It's having an ill will towards someone else. It's when you are not ashamed to break laws. It's having a vicious disposition, and it denotes the active exercise of that disposition.
All deceit, is guile, craftiness. It comes from a word meaning to bait.
Hypocrisy, is to pretend, to be insincere.
Envy, is when you hold a grudge, and are jealous of others.
All evil speaking, is when you slander someone, and backbite, and defame them.
So, these are the things that come out of our fallen natures, or the flesh as the Bible calls it. The good news, is, that we can put them away from us, and this is what we are called to do as Christians.
Finally, the one blessed thing to take into our lives, is the life giving Word of God. We are to desire it, just like a newborn baby wants it's mother's milk. We are to desire the pure milk of the Word, because this is what brings growth in our lives.
What a blessing the Bible is to our souls. I pray that You are being blessed and encouraged as you read these devotionals, and are helped by them.
Application/Promise
1. God helps us by telling us the truth.
2. His Word gets right to the point.
3. Bad things are not for God's children.
4 He wants His Word to be in our desire.
5. His Word will cause spiritual growth in our lives.
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