Rid and Crave

DEVOTION 1 PETER RID AND CRAVE 1 Peter 2:1-3 2:1 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. NIV It seems like a fairly simply task to rid oneself of these feeling, these emotions, or behaviors. But yet it might not be as easy as just simply. The putting away is the part which requires effort or at least a choice not to allow those behaviors to reign supreme. I would think acting in a vicious manner would not be a part of any believer’s life, nor having any deceit, endeavoring to trick others into either believing or acting in any way contrary to the Word of God. I would not think any believer would even try portraying themselves as without sin, which I think is one of the greatest hypocrisies. And who would ever envy another if they love them, would they not want others to have the very best? And it goes without saying that any believer would ever say anything negative about anyone, right? So then it is easy to rid oneself of these after all. Once accomplished, which should only take a moment or two, we should be craving after this pure spiritual milk. I think it is so true as a person becomes a new believer this craving is so natural, thirsting after the Word of God, as if not able to get enough of it, but what happens, does that craving wear off? Do we begin to think we know enough about God, and His word that we no longer crave after it? Do we just kinds live a little about it, sharing it with the ways of the world? Do we learn enough to find places where we can use it to justify the way we think we should live? What is growing up in salvation? Does this imply we should be growing more and more like Jesus, and less and less like the way we used to live? Does this mean living by God’s principles rather than the world’s? The natural order of human behavior is opposed to God, but we must be opposed to the natural order of human behavior because we have been born again into a new life. So then it is rid and crave.