Peter tells us that the cares of this world are temporary, but the word of God is eternal (1 Peter 1:25). We can lay wrong thinking aside and taste that the Lord is gracious. Desire more of Him and His word like a newborn baby wants milk.

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

1 Peter 2:1-3

A Growing Baby Desires Milk

The only time you will see a crying newborn baby refuse milk is when he is already full, his diaper is full, or something is wrong. Christians who are rapidly growing will always be craving more time with God consuming His word. Jesus is the Word, and He says that if we are not consuming Him that we have no life in us! Taste and see that the Lord is gracious!

I am that bread of life.

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.

This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

The Jews, therefore, strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.

This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eats of this bread shall live forever.

John 6:48-58

Who is Jesus talking to?

He begins here talking specifically to the Jews, but then He speaks of whosoever. The Jews didn’t have the revelation of Jesus that we have through being able to study the New Testament. They were very offended by Jesus’ teachings and even thought He was talking about cannibalism.

Communion

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul takes us back to look at the Israelites as an example so that we would not be ignorant. He goes on to talk about the Israelites eating the same spiritual meat and drinking the same spiritual drink of that spiritual Rock that was Christ.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17

Communion is not just a religious church service, as important as I do believe that is. Being in constant communion with Jesus and especially having a designated time and place to just dwell on Him as we consume His Word and allow ourselves to be consumed by Him is really what Paul is emphasizing here. Tasting and seeing that the Lord is gracious should be an ongoing thing for us just as Jesus modeled for us with the Father.

Drink the Cup of the Lord

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

1 Corinthians 10:21

We choose to reject the devil and his false doctrines of deceit by choosing to drink the cup of the Lord. When we allow ourselves to be consumed by the cares of the world and put off this vital communion with our Lord, we are actually choosing the cup of the devil and his table.

I hear Christians telling what movies, books, talk show hosts, etc. to avoid. Like many Bible concepts, we have gotten it backward. When we are constantly being filled at the Lord’s table, we don’t have to fear the world or worldly things at all. We can actually use those things as a tool to reach the lost. If we are constantly shielding ourselves and our loved ones from the lost and dying world, how can God use us to reach them?

The Word Became Flesh

Attending church services and listening to teachers and preachers online can be very good. These are not bad things, but they are not the same. They are no substitution! We have to choose to hear, read, study, and meditate on Jesus through His written, unadulterated word, the Bible. Ask Him questions like you would your most trusted friend because He really is. Ask God to wake you up thirty minutes early with a passion to know Him more. He wants more than anything for you to taste and see that the Lord is gracious.

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Matthew 21:22

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

John 16:24

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Psalm 37:4

Ask God for the desire to do His will, and He will reveal it to you and give you the desire to do it. If you don’t know God, ask Him to show you. Then go to His table and taste that the Lord is gracious.

Choose to Taste

Many verses in the New Testament use the same language, should, shall. Then you have the commands beginning with “be,” be filled, be doers, be holy, etc., and then other commands such as “desire, seek, knock, ask, etc.” This means that we can choose to do these things or neglect to do them. So, let’s just choose right now to taste that the Lord is gracious.

Gracious

The King James Bible Dictionary defines “gracious” as favorable, kind, friendly, benevolent, merciful, disposed to forgive offenses and impart unmerited blessings, expressing kindness and favor, virtuous, good, excellent, graceful, becoming. Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious? He is all of this!

Jesus is God

The true nature of God has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ. Jesus says that if we have seen Him that we have seen the Father. To really taste and see that the Lord is gracious, we have got to reconcile the fact that we can read the gospels and get to know God by how He treats people as our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is gracious, and He is God manifest in the flesh!

Lay it aside:

• Lay aside–Lay literally means to throw down or beat down
• Malice–A disposition to injure others without cause, from mere personal gratification
• Guile–Deceit; Fraud; Hypocrisy
• Hypocrisies–A concealment of one’s real character or motives; false pretense
• Envies–To feel uneasiness, mortification or discontent, at the sight of superior excellence, reputation or happiness enjoyed by another; to repine at another’s prosperity; to fret or grieve one’s self at the real or supposed superiority of another, and to hate him on that account.
• Evil speakings–Using your mouth to speak evil
• Evil—1. Having bad qualities of a natural kind; mischievous; having qualities which tend to injury, or to produce mischief. Natural evil is any thing which produces pain, distress, loss or calamity, or which in any way disturbs the peace, impairs the happiness, or destroys the perfection of natural beings.

I used the King James Bible Dictionary online to quote or summarize the above definitions. These things are horribly damaging to everyone involved in them and their relationships. I used to have all of these characteristics and still know too many people who have chosen not to lay them aside. How do I throw these things down?

Repent

To repent is to lay aside our ways and turn to God’s ways and to lay aside our way of thinking and turn to God’s way of thinking. Renewing our minds in the washing of the water of the Word is repenting or changing our minds to line up with the will of God.

When I had given up on praying because I believed the lie that “God is in control.” I thought, well if God is in control, what is the point? My physical body was deteriorating, and most of the Christians I went to church with were sick and dying too. Deciding to give prayer another chance since the Bible tells us to pray over and over again, I repented from being a lazy glutton. God immediately intervened! You can read that testimony, Eliminating Confusion.

It’s Simple

Even though it is simple, it isn’t easy! We are at war with a very tricky adversary. The good news is that we can’t lose for winning! Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. It’s simple to understand that we have to choose to ask, knock, and seek. The hard part is when the enemy throws every excuse in the book at us to get busy putting out fires. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted. The more you commune with Jesus, the more YouWillWantTo! And the more you will be able to discern between good and evil which is key to living the victorious life Jesus came for you to have. Please feel free to share that the Lord is gracious with your world!