"Therefore, putting aside all malice (wickedness) and all guile 

and hypocrisy and envy and all slander (evil speaking),

like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word,

that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 

if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord."

I Peter 2:1-3

These verses are a continuation of the earlier ones that speak of being born again.  So we are talking newborn here.  Now newborns don't ever have malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy and slander, do they.  How can you tell a newborn Christian from an old bitter soul?  It's easy, isn't it?  It is as John Wesley says, "Desire--Always as earnestly as newborn babes do, the milk of the word--That word of God which nourishes the soul as milk does the body; and which is sincere--Pure from all guile, so that none are deceived who cleave to it; that you may grow thereby--In faith, love, holiness, unto the full stature of Christ." So having put all these aside, we can be born again and longing for the pure milk of the word.  It is our nourishment, it is our necessity for our very lives.  

If you've ever been around a newborn, you now the rooting reflex they are born with that is essential for their lives.  If they are hungry, they will try to root around trying to find the pure milk, even though they are being held by their fathers or by other family who are not equipped to give them what they desire.  Soon they are handed back to their mother who is able to sustain them with their natural desire for pure milk.   

Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good."  Some commentators understand this as a reference to a suckling child, "that, having once tasted its mother's milk, ever after desires and longs for it.  As they were born of God, and had tasted His goodness, they would naturally desire the same pure unadulterated milk of the word."  Even if bottle fed, there is no way any loving mother would put anything dirty or dangerous into their milk.

So, what are we to feed on if we want to grow?  The Word.  It is our pure milk.  If we want to be stunted and left to wither and die, then we neglect the Word.  It is unimaginable how a Christian will sabotage himself by self destructive, selfish desires contrary to God's goodness.  But some do at their own peril.  It is the kindness of God, the nourishment of the Word, that is essential to our salvation.  

Sadly, we live in a society that is willing to butcher babies for their own selfish desires run riot.  Even in our county, there is an enclave of people who worship the Viking gods who demanded human sacrifice.  Craven societies throughout history have been so weakly barbaric that they slaughter babies, the cowards.  

As we saw when Eve gave birth to the first child ever born, she did it with the help of the Lord.  God emphasized the importance of nurturing a child as we read of Samuel and even Samson as well as others.  In Isaiah we read, "The Lord called me from my mother's womb; From the body of My mother He named Me." (Isaiah 49:1)  Jeremiah says, "Now the word of the Lord came to me (notice it says the Word), saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. (Jeremiah1:4-5) The Psalmist David speaks of the divine creation in the womb in Psalm 139, of whom God is the first to know the babe being knit there.  

God saw it fitting that He sent His only begotten Son as a baby to redeem us, "the holy thing begotten."  After all, Jesus is the Word.  This Word is our only sustenance that we dare not neglect as it comes with a great price.