"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." -- Matthew 18:3
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation (1 Pt. 2:2). In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness (Heb. 5:12-13).
Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn (Is. 51:1). The LORD detests the way of the wicked but he loves those who pursue righteousness (Prv. 15:9).
Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Mt. 5:6).
He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor (Prv. 21:21). For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things (Ps. 107:9). Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58).
Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults (Is. 51:7). If we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness (Dt. 6:25).
In the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature (1 Cor. 14:20). I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil (Rom. 16:19). Flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness (1 Tim. 6:11).
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Ps. 63:1). I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me (Ps. 131:2). See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Ps. 139:24).
