Wednesday, August 07,
2013, 7:22 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song:
God is So Good /
Velna A. Ledin
God is so good (repeat
3 x)
He’s so good to me.
God answers prayer…
He cares for me…
I love Him so…
I’ll do His will…
I praise His name…
Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 1 Peter 2 (ESV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202&version=ESV
Long For
So
put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like
newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up
into salvation— if indeed you have
tasted that the Lord is good.
I am a mother of four (+ 4), and a grandmother of 11 (soon
to be 12), so I know the craving of a newborn infant for his or her mother’s
milk. The infant eagerly desires and hungers for that milk and is delighted and
satisfied when he or she receives it. Nothing else in all creation satisfies
like the mother’s milk does. And, this is the kind of craving, longing and
desire we should all have for Christ and his word daily. What a picture! What
if all Christians longed for Christ and his word daily like a newborn longs for
his mother’s milk? What if we viewed Christ Jesus and the word of God as our
bare necessity for survival, comfort, encouragement, hope, healing, and nurturing,
like a newborn infant does his mom’s milk? If we did, imagine what a difference
that would make in our lives and in the lives of those whose lives we touch
with ours, and in the world as a whole.
For me, this is such an awesome picture of what our
relationship with Jesus Christ should be like. If we have tasted that the Lord
is good, like an infant first tastes the goodness of his mother’s milk, then we
should daily crave that pure spiritual nourishment so that we can grow up and
mature spiritually in Christ. For instance, this in no way suggests we should
remain spiritual infants (immature) or that we should be satisfied with just
the milk of the word and never move on to the meat and become mature followers
of Christ. What I believe this is saying here is that, instead of craving the
things of this world and following after our own evil desires, feeding upon the
evils of this world, we should long for (crave; desire) the pure word of God,
for only Christ and his word can truly satisfy the longings of our hearts.
Spiritual Sacrifices
As
you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen
and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a
spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold,
I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and
whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
The analogy here is between a physical structure (house)
made up of physical (lifeless) stones and that of a spiritual structure (house)
made up of spiritual (and living) “stones,” with Christ Jesus, from whom we
receive physical and spiritual life, as the head and foundation stone
(cornerstone; capstone) in this spiritual house (his church). Jesus Christ was
rejected by men, but in the sight of God he was chosen and precious. This
should give great encouragement to those of us who have suffered rejection
because of our walks of faith with Jesus Christ, and because of our testimonies
and our witness for him. Humans may reject us, but to God we are precious and
chosen, i.e. he gives honor to the parts of the Body which lack it. Humans may
not see us that way, i.e. we may not be the ones they would naturally choose. They
may even cast us aside, but the Lord Jesus does not look at us the same way in
which humans do. He looks at our hearts. Amen!
As “living stones,” i.e. as spiritually alive and active
parts of this spiritual house (his church), we are being “built up” (nurtured;
encouraged) to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God through Jesus Christ. To be holy means to be pure, cleansed, and set apart
for Christ and for his service. It means to live righteously via the Spirit of
God living within us. As “priests” of the Most High God we are to reflect his
holiness, make intercession in prayer for others, represent God/Jesus in all we
do to all people, and we are to offer to God spiritual sacrifices to God,
acceptable to him. So, I asked myself the question: “What are spiritual
sacrifices?” If we are to offer them, then we need to know what they are. So, I
checked out what the scriptures teach on this subject.
Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God are a broken and
contrite heart – humble, submissive, repentant and obedient. They are not
comprised of what we choose to do “for” God out of our own choosing, but they
are what he chooses for us. We are to present our lives to God as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, no longer conformed to the ways of this
world, but transformed in the renewing of our minds. We are to offer to God
sacrifices of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name (his character
and divine will). We are to do good and to share with others; proclaim the
gospel so that others will become sacrifices acceptable to God, sanctified by
the Holy Spirit; worship God with reverence and in awe; look after orphans and
widows in their distress; keep our lives from being polluted by the world; not
live to please humans, but God; not use flattery, fakery, trickery, deceit and
lies in the preaching of the word; not serve God and others from impure
motives; and to live a life of love (See Ro. 12:1-2; 15:16; Heb. 10:5; 12:28; 13:15-16;
Jas. 1:27; 1 The. 2:3-6; 2 Tim. 2:15; Eph. 5:2; Ps. 51:17). Basically, instead
of “doing” for God, we obey God. Simple!
Proclaim the
Excellencies
But
you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are
God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Not only are we to live holy lives pleasing to God and to
offer up to him spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him, but we, as followers of
Jesus Christ, have an obligation and a responsibility and a trust which we have
been given to share the true gospel of salvation with all who need Christ.
Because we have been called out of spiritual darkness into the light of truth
and freedom from sin, via God’s mercy, we should be passionate about showing
that same mercy to others so that they, too, can be brought from darkness to
light.
Honorable Conduct
Beloved,
I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh,
which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles
honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your
good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
…Live
as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but
living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.
…For
to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you
an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither
was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in
return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself
to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying
like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
We are strangers and pilgrims in this world, i.e. this world
is not our home, so we should stop living our lives like it is. We should live
like we truly believe that we are here for a purpose and a time, i.e. that we
have been placed here by God to love him, to serve him, to obey him, and to
love and serve others. We should live our lives with eternity’s values in view.
In other words, we should realize that we are not here to gather wealth, to
entertain ourselves incessantly, to have a big party, to always be seeking out
fun and pleasure, and/or to have lots of friends and to always “make nice” with
people so they will like us, etc. We should surrender our lives completely to
God and to his will for our lives, and we should live to please him and to do
what he desires and requires of us, sharing his true gospel, even if the world
ends up hating, rejecting and persecuting us for our faith in Jesus Christ.
This means that we need to abstain from the passions of the
flesh, which wage war against our souls. This is not only speaking of the
obvious sins of lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, lust, pride, gossip,
slander, hatred, murder and the like, but this is speaking of anything in our
lives which captures our hearts, minds, attention and affections in such a way
as to become our gods, or the central focus of our lives, or which replaces our
time, attention and affections which should be given to Christ alone. What do
we crave? What do we desire? What do we long for? – The things of this life
which have no lasting value? – Or that which is eternal, i.e. that which brings
people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God so they may
receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are being sanctified?
Are we mainly living for this life? Or are we living for eternity?
Christ Jesus died on the cross to set us free from the
control of and bondage to Satan and to sin. “He himself bore our sins in his
body on a tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” We need to
get this! He did not die just so we could go to heaven one day. He didn’t die
just so we would be free from damnation to hell. He died so we would walk in
freedom from slavery to sin, and so we would walk in his righteousness
day-to-day while we still live on this earth. If we, the church, really got
this, then why would so many be teaching a gospel absent of the kind of faith
that results in repentance and obedience? And, why would so many professing Christians
be living their lives as though this earth is their final home? Why would so
many believe that God’s grace means they can continue to live to please
themselves because heaven is a sure thing? Christ did set us free, but we are
not to use that freedom as a cover-up for evil, i.e. as an excuse to continue
to do wrong.
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