Shake Them All Off

1 Peter 2:1-3 ESV

 

“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.”

 

The Scriptures are filled with such warnings regarding what we are to put away, to put off, to cut out of our lives, to shake off, and to put to death by the Spirit. And if we are true believers in Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit within us nudging us and prompting us to not give way to the flesh but to say “no” to the flesh and to say “yes” to God.

 

But we have to listen, and we have to obey, and we have to not keep going ahead when the Spirit speaks to our hearts and he says to “stop.” If we are talking casually in a conversation with other people and someone’s name comes up and the others begin to mock that person and to slander him or her, we are not to join in, but we are to walk away.

 

We are not to be like those who are lovers of intoxication to sin, who are self-indulgent, prideful, and who resist the Spirit of God and who, in their pride, go ahead with what they know is wrong, even though they have been warned, or perhaps in spite of the warnings and as a bold statement of rebellion and self-will and wanting to do what they want to do despite God.

 

We are not to be like the self-indulgent and prideful who ignore the commands of God and who do what they know is contrary to God’s will, and who will even deliberately and habitually do what they know will hurt other people. And sometimes they do this out of spite, out of anger, and out of resentment and bitterness and even jealousy, too.

 

But they are not content with just going their own way and doing their own thing, but they want to destroy others along the way who they see as a threat to their sinful lifestyles, just like the Pharisees did to Jesus. So, they will betray, and they will mock, and they will lie in order to make themselves look good and the other person look bad. Don’t be like them!

 

Then they will fake righteousness and purity of devotion to the Lord, and they will make a pretense of walking in faithful obedience to the Lord. But it is all a lie. It is a coverup to hide what they are doing in secret. We should not get caught up in their web of deceit. Although their influence may be strong, we must not follow them.

 

For, if they continue on that path, and they do not repent of their sins and turn their hearts over to Jesus Christ – whether they are those who profess faith in Jesus Christ or not – and if they continue to ignore God and to bypass his moral boundaries, because of pride, and because they think they know better, they will fall to their deaths. They will not inherit eternal life.

 

So, all those types of things should have no part of our lives. Instead, we should long for the pure word of God so that by it we may grow up in our salvation. For, our salvation is not a one-time experience and then we are good to go. We must grow in our walks of faith, and daily die with Christ to sin, and daily live to Christ and to his righteousness in the power of God.

 

1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV

 

“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.”

 

God chose us to be holy, to be set apart from the world and to be set apart to God and to his service, and to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ in all that we are and do and think and say. We are not supposed to be like the world, but like Jesus. We are to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return.

 

We aren’t supposed to get involved in worldly chitter chatter which involves compromise of our faith and convictions and which leads us to doing and to saying things we ought not to do or to say. We are not to let the world influence us into becoming gossipers and slanderers and those who mock others for sport and for entertainment.

 

But we are to be those who are sharing the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who are proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus Christ who called us out of the darkness of sin into the wonderful light of his holiness and righteousness. We are to be telling them that Jesus died for us on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.

 

And we are to be letting people know the consequences or the results of living in sin or living in righteousness. For, many people are hiding this truth from them. They need to know that if they make sin their practice and if righteousness is not what they practice that they will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what faith they profess (1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10).

 

1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV

 

“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.”

 

So, don’t allow yourselves to be easily influenced by the sinful passions and practices of others, including others who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Don’t join in with them in their degradation, and don’t be one who leads the way, either. But make it your practice to abstain from the sinful passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

 

Live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God, in the power and wisdom of God, via obedience to the Lord and to his commands. Do what you know is right to do and don’t deliberately and willfully do what you know is wrong, and don’t do what you know is going to hurt others, especially others who you are supposed to love and care for and share Jesus with.

 

Live as strangers on this earth, as though you don’t belong to this world, because Jesus called you out of the world to follow him in his ways. Walk in the ways of the Lord and conduct your lives in all holiness and righteousness in the power and strength of God’s Spirit living within you. Do what is right even if everyone around you is doing wrong, and even if they mock you.

 

Days Of Elijah

 

Artist: Robin Mark

Songwriter: Francis Robert Mark

 

These are the days of Elijah

Declaring the Word of the Lord

And these are the days

Of Your servant Moses

Righteousness being restored

And though these are days

Of great trials

Of famine and darkness and sword

Still we are the voice

In the desert crying

Prepare ye the way of the Lord

 

Behold He comes

Riding on the clouds

Shining like the sun

At the trumpet call

So lift your voice

It's the year of Jubilee

And out of Zion's hill

Salvation comes

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca9LnzJnpjQ

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