1 Peter chapter 2 verse 1 = It’s the idea that we are not supposed to be all trapped up in ourselves, separated from one another. Peter says:
“Therefore, having gotten rid of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and every type of slander, (having discarded all that ugly stuff that puts up divisions among us), you should desire pure spiritual milk like pure newborn babies, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, since you have tasted the Lord’s kindness.”
Peter is saying that when you think about the kindness the Lord has shared with you… how can you not be changed by that? How can you not want more of it? And how can you not share that with others? How can you continue to be bitter and angry about things? When the kindness of God is given to you, how can you think you are more super than others? “Gotten rid of” refers to taking off and laying aside clothes. It’s as if these divisive, selfish thoughts that we are so prone to have, are a soiled garment over us, a cape that we shouldn’t wear. So when we are invited into the presence of God, we take off that hideous disgusting selfish coat and we sit down at the dinner table and start drinking from a sippy cup of pure spiritual milk. We quit trying to act like we deserve some five course five star meal from a whole staff of five star waiters and five star cooks because we are super… and we embrace the idea that we are children of God who just need to be with God and love life innocently like a newborn taking all the wonder of God’s world in with wide eyes. Pure and Lovely- just craving it all.
A community cannot be built while people are wearing coats of superiority. Jockeying for position has no place in the body of Christ. When we’ve tasted God’s kindness, how can we continue to not be kind to others, to not serve others, to not do everything within the ability that God has given each of us, to minister?