As a Newborn Baby

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”* (1 Peter 2:2) You have seen a newborn baby, haven’t you? They are very small and don’t know how to talk or walk or do many of the things you do. They cry because they need something. Maybe they are hungry. Maybe they are uncomfortable. Maybe they feel lonely. Mommy and Daddy love their little baby and want to take care of him. So they feed him and change him and cuddle him close. Soon their baby will grow strong and happy, because he is loved and cared for. Isn’t that what happened to you?

Some babies don’t have such love and care. If their mommy or daddy can’t take care of them, someone must do it! So the baby might be adopted by someone else who wants to love and care for her. Her new Mommy and Daddy will bring her to their home and she will belong to their family.

That is what God wants to do for us. When we do wrong, we belong to the devil. He doesn’t care for us at all, but God loves us and wants to help us. He wants to adopt us and be our Father and make us part of His family. What a wonderful loving God He is to care so much about us!

Did you know God loves babies? Not just newborn babies that you can see, but the kind that are newborn inside. You see, you can’t just walk up and “join” God’s family. You have to become like a baby. That sounds sort of strange, but it is true. Growing up doing wrong makes our hearts sinful, and God can’t have sin in His family. So we must become little and weak—just like a baby—so we can start over again inside. Instead of saying, “See how great I am!” or “I want this—I need that,” we must see that we are really very small and need God to take care of us.

Most of us don’t want to act “like a baby.” We want to be strong and smart and do things ourselves. But God wants us to be His little ones that just cry out to Him for what we need. When we are sad or scared or need help to be good, our Heavenly Father loves to give us what we need. Like a little baby, we should cry for Him and He will care for us. That is the way to grow strong and happy in God’s family.