2 Peter 9:10 A Special Possession

2 Peter 9:10  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

What a wonderful salvation has been given to us!  We are God’s special possession.  Once we were in an untenable position, far away from God, without eternal life.  We were self-oriented, performing our wills, not God’s will.  We were as evil as in Noah’s time when God decided to kill all humans except for his chosen Noah and family.  Now because of the cross, we have been led out of darkness into his wonderful light.  We are a chosen people of God.  As born again believers, we have been placed into the body of Christ, into the family of God.  All of this wonderful inheritance has come through God’s mercy, his grace to us, undeserving as we are.  The Bible says, Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.  (Romans 5:20) The penalty for being opposite of God is death.  Outside of Christ, we have that penalty in our future.  How could we so marvelously change from sources of darkness to sources of light?  Of course, first we needed a complete transformation from the lost to the saved.  This comes through faith in Christ’s work.  But being born again in the eyes of God does not mean our flesh is always obedient to God, always perfect in actions or thoughts.  In God’s eyes, we are perfect because Christ is perfect, and we are hidden in him.  But we still walk in the flesh.  How do we become lights in a world of darkness?  Jesus stated that his followers are lights.  You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.   Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)  Let your light shine is Jesus’ request.  When Jesus went back to his hometown in Nazareth, they rejected him, for they saw him as just one of them—not a person of light.  They knew him from his childhood to his adulthood.  They questioned how this son of Joseph and Mary could be anything other than a man of flesh?  But Jesus claimed more than a fleshly life: he claimed to be a special messenger from God.  The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  (Luke 4:18-19)  How could this carpenter claim such a high position with God?  His messenger?  But Jesus had been baptized in water for repentance and blessed by a dove from heaven: filled with the Holy Spirit.  He had been elevated from the work of a carpenter to God’s work by the Holy Spirit.  As a source of good, He traveled around Israel, revealing the light of God.  Now God transforms believers by the power of the Holy Spirit within us.  We are not the Son of God, but we definitely are his lights in the darkness He came to dispel.

Yes, the world is dark, and people without a loving relationship with Jesus are not the friends of God, but enemies of God.  We see the people in Nazareth, even some acquaintances and apparent friends of Jesus try to destroy him when Jesus states that they will not accept the fact that He is a messenger of God.  In that incident, Jesus escapes from their intensions to destroy him.  Even in his hometown, the darkness in men’s hearts rallied to snuff out the Light from God.  Jesus recognized that He was in an alien world, one that would not display God and his goodness.  When He sends out his disciples to minister He warns them, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.  Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.  (Matthew 10:16)  The world is not accepting to the gospel of Good News.  For the gospel demands repentance of sins and a wholehearted turning towards God.  The gospel demands a recognition that a person's natural inclinations are not always godlike.  And because God is perfect, his will, his nature, must always be displayed in our beings.  We cannot vary, for He is holy; therefore, we are holy or perfect in Christ Jesus.  So the world will always reject this message of loving and knowing God, no matter how we present the gospel to them.  To what can I compare this generation?  They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:  “We played the pipe for you and you did not dance, we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.”  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “ e has a demon."  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “there is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.  (Matthew 11:17-19)  No matter what our approach is, people will resist turning to God.  In our churches we have loving people, we have great music, strong preachers; but few, unless in deep trouble in their personal lives, will enter through their doors.  Nonetheless, God’s continually extends his mercy and grace to all who will turn from their own ways and accept the Christ who died for them.  Whosoever will can enter through those doors and find salvation from their sins, freedom from their darkness.  They can say with the blind man, “One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see.”  (John 9:25)  They can know for eternity, “I was lost but now I am found.”        

As lights, we should not merely sit in the pews, waiting for people to enter our sanctuaries.  We must go forth with the Good News that Jesus died on the cross to set captives free, that eternal life comes to all who put their trust in Jesus.  We should be sources of light, the opposite of the world’s darkness.  We are testimonies of Jesus Christ’s work in our hearts.  The people in Nazareth did not understand that God’s power, the Holy Spirit, was resident in Jesus.  Jesus told them the truth: the Spirit of the Lord was upon him.  He was not the carpenter; He was the LIGHT.  As believers, we are lights when the Holy Spirit is upon us.  We cannot come in our own names because of our own positions in our families or communities and convince people that they should turn from their wicked ways and accept Jesus.  They will not view us as anything other than people, playing roles with just another message that does not satisfy.  We will be as the carpenter’s son, without respect, another person from Nazareth.  People must see us as believers, new creatures made by God’s hand, through the work of Jesus Christ.  We are God’s chosen priesthood, his nation of believers.  The source of power to change the world is within us.  “In the last days,” God says, "I WILL pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters WILL prophesy, your young men WILL see visions, your old men WILL dream dreams.”  (Acts 2:17)  Your sons and daughters will tell of the glory of God.  Their lives will illustrate God’s nature.  Your old men will see things that they could never imagine when they were young.  All of God’s people, young and old will reveal God to the world.  This only happens when the Holy Spirit is present.  This scripture does not say that they might do these things, but it says they WILL perform the works of God.  We must be sensitive to that WILL—God’s promise.  The Holy Spirit wants you to demonstrate God in your language and activities.  When you leave from talking to someone can you say, God’s promise was primary in your talk?  As you leave a person or people, can you hear in your ears the Lord saying, “I have given you those words.  They were mine.  You prophesied.”  To you the words may have seemed mundane, very ordinary, but to God they were prophesies for the Spirit motivated them.  Saying a simple, “I hope you have a great breakfast and enjoy your day,” to the people next to you at a restaurant can be a blessing from God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  (Galatians 5:22-25)  As we keep in step with the Holy Spirit wherever we go, people will see and hear the Good News, the prophetic word of God’s redemption to all people.  The message may be indirect at times, but through our everyday words and actions, they will see Jesus.  Our families, friends, acquaintances, strangers should see the fulfillment of God’s will in us.  Believers, who are filled with the Holy Spirit, WILL express the prophetic word through their daily lives.  A waitress once said to us, “I knew you were Christians just by how you acted, even before I saw you pray over your food.”  Dear friends, walk in his wonderful light today!


  

1 Peter 2:1-8 Precious Cornerstone

1 Peter 2:1-8  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.  As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  For in Scripture it says:  “See, I lay a stone in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.  But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the  cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”  They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

Peter writes that since we have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:23), we should rid ourselves of immature fleshly behavior such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander.  Because the Lord has redeemed our finite lives, giving us eternal lives, we should function as new creatures, giving ourselves up as spiritual offerings.  Our lives should be living sacrifices, revealing God in everything we do.  As Paul would say, we must consider the old man as dead, moving on in our lives to new beginnings: Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you.  (Philippians 4:4-9)  The fleshly ways of our former lives should be avoided as much as possible.  But often we feel as if we are fish swimming upstream, attempting to be good, to be holy, to never displease God.  Yet condemnation and disappointment often trouble our minds because we see ourselves as not always doing the will of God.  Maturity seems to slip from our grasp.  To survive as Christians, many believers constantly go back to the fundamentals of becoming a Christian: repenting of sins, accepting Jesus as Savior; receiving baptism in water and Spirit, and acknowledging they will be raised from the grave.  Returning to the rudimentary elements of Christianity is not bad unless that is where the believer wants to abide, refusing to go deeper in the things of God.  Immaturity leads to seeking pastors who preach only the elementary teachings of Christ, preaching that provides comfort rather than challenge because the people have already fulfilled the initial requirements of salvation.  But the writer of Hebrews desires believers to move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,  instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And God permitting, we will do so.  (Hebrew 6:1-3)  Fundamentals have their place and should not be ignored, but they represent spiritual pablum to one alive IN CHRIST.  As spiritual men and women seeking maturity, we should desire pure spiritual milk so that we may grow up in our salvation, walking in the full knowledge of who we are IN CHRIST.  We do not need to continually discover salvation; we need to come alive in the Spirit in our salvation.  Of course, our spiritual maturation will culminate in the future when we see Jesus on the other side of this life.  At that time, we and all of creation will know who we really are as adopted daughters and sons in the household of God.  The angels and all of creation will rejoice, for no longer will creation be under the burden of sin.  Consequently, dear brethren around this devotional table this morning: Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Salvation is yours!  The fundamentals are completed!  Appreciate that you have been made complete, perfect, through the works of the cross.

What is it to go deeper in the Lord?  How do we know that we are treading on a deeper landscape than the flat meadows of elementary teaching?  See, I lay a stone in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.  But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the  cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”  We must believe that the cross and its works are always with us, that we will never be put to shame.  We do not have to repeat the elementary works of salvation to know that we are complete in the Lord.  He is our cornerstone for sure; we build our lives on his teachings, on his life by faith.  But Jesus is also the touchstone in our lives.  He is the perfect God.  He is without end, always the same, exactly perfect in every way.  As the Bible says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  (Hebrews 13:8)  With Christ as the touchstone, we cannot vary at all from that perfection if we are going to reside with God.  Do we believe that fact?  Or are we trying to live that perfect life in ourselves?  Are we the fish that is always swimming upstream, but never making it to the top of the rapids?  Are we the one who is bruised by every rock on the way, often pushed underneath the current, hardly surviving in our journey?  Are the rudimentary tenets of Christianity what keeps us moving and alive as Christians?  Does the unending struggle seem too much?  If so, we are still battling life with the milk designed for babies, that which will never give us enough energy to bolster our spiritual lives forever.  The rocks, the obstacles in life, will hinder our struggle to find security in the Lord.  James adds to this insecurity by informing us of the error of trying to find our way to God by obeying the law: For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.”  If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.”  (James 2:10-11)  James points out that any sin, no matter how insignificant, makes us guilty of not being acceptable to God.  If we sin, we are not perfect, and God is perfect.  What is our hope of security, our hope of reaching the top of the waterfalls?  Trust completely in the works of Christ.  He is the touchstone, the gold standard of life.  He is the way to life eternal.  Faith in God’s work will bring us security.  When we fail, we know for sure that we are still in the household of God, for Jesus paid the price for failures.  His efficacious work is continuously providing for every failure, every weakness.  We and the Touchstone are one, for we are IN THE TOUCHSTONE!  We are IN CHRIST.

What is the deeper work of Christ?  What is a life that is mature in Christ, that is seated in heavenly places with Christ?  If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  (James 2:8)  Actively loving people as you love yourself, represents a deeper work.  When God’s love takes over, salvation is not all about yourself: how you get to heaven; how you please God.  Milk for baby believers is oriented towards self-survival in the kingdom of God.  However, for mature Christians, the life you live in the flesh is not for personal survival, but for the survival of others.  Your life becomes one of a servant.  You are not concentrating on what God can do for you; instead, you are asking God what you can do for others.  A mature believer makes his or her life available for God’s mission on Earth rather than following a personal mission.  Paul wrote: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20)  The Bible says, God is love.  His great patience with this world signifies his love for the world.  Outside of God’s love, we are a cancer on existence, enemies of God.  Yet while we are and were in this state, God sent his Son for our survival.  He not only willingly redeemed us, but He placed us in his household, glorifying us.  He made us as He is, complete, perfect, exact.  We do not have to live in a state of wondering if we will meet God’s standard for eternal life.  We exist in the ETERNAL ONE: JESUS CHRIST.  Believers do not need to fight the battle of finding salvation or defeating sin.  God has defeated sin through the One in whom we have placed our trust, Jesus Christ.  We who trust in him have died with him and are now presently alive forevermore with him.  That battle is over.  Now the struggle we might be experiencing as mature Christians is to love others as God loves them.  This is a daily struggle for all Christians.  Christians no longer need to swim upstream for security in Christ, but what we must be willing to do daily is to love the people of the world as Jesus loves them.  Beloved friends, inventory your love.  Do you love others who are not like you, those who are not in your ethnic group, your culture group?  Do you care for those unappreciated by society, those who struggle with addiction and poverty?  To what level does the dipstick in your love reservoir rise?  The battle to love others is a war for all of us, no matter where we are on the ladder of supposed maturity in Christ.  Jesus said, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:44-45)   Why?  Because God loves them, and we are to reflect God’s image to the world.  Are we reflecting him or are we reflecting the natural man’s parsimonious love for others?  Go forth today as living stones, the children of God with the attributes of God, loving one another deeply from your hearts.  

1 Peter 1:20-35 Love Deeply

1 Peter 1:20-35  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”  And this is the word that was preached to you. 

Christ was appointed before the foundation of the world to provide salvation for all who are contaminated by sin, not being like God.  This plan came to fruition in the last days when Jesus Christ came to the world in the form of a child.  Through Christ’s miraculous exploits during his earthly ministry we see the manifestation of God, the Creator of all things.  We who trust in Jesus and his salvation power have placed our hope of life forever in his loving hands.  We know He was raised from the grave by the authority of God, breaking the power of death over the flesh.  Since we have by faith vicariously accepted his death and resurrection as ours, we are made into new creatures with eternal life within us: the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our souls.  We read in the word: And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.  (Romans 8:11)  As new creatures, designed by God to be holy, we possess an earnest and passionate love for our fellow believers who are also new creatures in the likeness of Jesus Christ.  We love one another deeply, from the heart.  Our lives as born again people are no longer fixated on the servitude to the flesh, for we are truly born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  We are eternal in nature, not structured according to the finiteness of this world, with death like grass, here for a while, but soon the vitality of life will vanish and its glory will fail, shriveling into nothingness.  But our lives are forever, for Christ is eternal.  We are hidden in him.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  (Colossians 3:3-4)  As the word will never cease, so we will never cease.  Heaven and Earth can pass away, but we will never pass away, for we will be with God.  This is our hope when we trust in Christ; God’s plan from the beginning of time.  With joy we trust in his way, understanding our existence as eternal with a knowledge of God and his righteousness, exactness, purity.  By faith in Christ, with boldness we can enter the chambers of the Most Holy, as his children, adopted forever into his family. 

Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life.  (John 14:6)  Peter says, Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, love from your hearts.  How do we obey the truth to obtain this purification?  Perfect purity comes from the absolutely pure one: God.  We have minds with great abilities and possibilities.  Otherwise, our minds are fantastic.  Even as you read this breakfast, focused on its content, your mind accepts and processes other information.  You possess an acute awareness of your surroundings: sounds, colors, comfort, distractions, and so much more.  Sensory input is constantly in action.  The neurons in your brain incessantly fire: receiving, interpreting, categorizing, and sending input throughout your neuro system.  If your chair is uncomfortable, your mind sends that signal.  If there is noise in the other room, your brain processes that.  Even though you desire to pay complete attention to this devotional, you are not able to control your mind to focus only on the words in front of you.  The input you receive from the words is processed too slowly for the fabulous computer in your head.  Consequently, the expansive energy of your neurotransmitters receives information other than what you are reading.  You may be unconscious of your mind’s processes, for they occur faster than nanoseconds.  At times, this ability of our brains to take in a myriad of thoughts all at once troubles us, as our minds seem to spin out of control, piling up information.  Some of this input is not supportive to our spiritual well-being.  In some situations, we feel swamped with critical, angry thoughts; thoughts we do not desire to hold to ourselves.  Even when we are performing a spiritual activity, picking up manna for the day, our minds might be battling fear, anxiety, doubt, impurity.  But we ought not condemn ourselves, for true holiness is not our work but a work of God—a faith work.  Our minds of the flesh are wonderfully made, but they are not holy.  Our exposure to a fleshly world and its ideas keeps us from perfection, total godliness.  Consequently, we must receive Christ’s perfection, his purity, in place of an uncontrollable mind of firing neurons.  IN CHRIST we inherit rightness with God, paid for by Jesus’ blood on the cross.  Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.  I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.  (John 6:47-51)  No one will see God in us without the bread that comes down from heaven, Jesus Christ.  Partaking of that bread makes us holy, right with God.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  We are not the bread; our supposed purity does not open the gates to heaven.  As we have seen, our minds are too elaborate and too active to be right with God in the flesh at all times.  Consciously or subconsciously, we cross over the plum line of purity, righteousness, perfection.  God never varies or moves from perfection.  Therefore, we need a Savior who is God, perfect in every way; in thought and action. 

Time dictates how long we will live in the flesh.  Even the healthiest of us will die sometime.  Peter quotes from Psalm 103 when he writes that people are like grass and the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.  But he knows that when we deal with God, we are dealing with timelessness, with existence that has no beginning, no ending.  When we approach God by faith, we enter that domain of spacelessness, timelessness.  There are no boundaries around God.  We who become alive IN CHRIST have no boundaries; we extend as far as the farthest galaxies for we abide IN GOD.  In God, we are without boundaries and do not have the dictates of time on our souls.  We become as He is: embedded in his nature.  Christ, who is our Savior, is our Lord today and forever.  The Bible says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 2:5)  His perfection is always the same.  He is not partially perfect or exact, or almost perfect and exact—He is forever perfect and exact.  We too take on that nature when we are found by faith IN CHRIST.  Our metamorphoses into his likeness and nature will be fully realized when we see Jesus.  As Christians we know God has given us special names, and under those names, ascribed to us by God because of Christ’s works, will be the words: perfect, holy, complete.  God is a good Father, and all of his children will be honored as being a good work—a perfect, holy, complete work.  We who were once corrupted by sin, headed for the garbage pile of eternal damnation, have been salvaged, redeemed.  We are saved not just to survive in a quasi-state of existence, living outside of the intimate presence of the Creator.  No, our forever existence with the Father God will be much more than just existing.  For we who are free from the shackles of sin will be everlastingly free with him in his household.  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  (Romans 6:22 KJV)  As Peter says, this is the word of truth that was preached to all who would hear from the beginning.  The just shall live by faith.  (Habakuk 2:4, Romans 1:19)  Believers embrace this enduring truth to be told forever, for the word of the Lord does endure forever. 

1 Peter 1:13-19 Free Indeed!

1 Peter 1:13-19  Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”  Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 

Christ’s coming to take us home will complete our salvation.  On that day, all of creation will know those who are IN CHRIST are sons and daughters of the Most High, new creatures adopted into the family of God.  We will be fully molded into his image, no longer possessing the difficulties and imperfections of the flesh.  Jesus divulges God’s marvelous plan of salvation when talking to the Pharisee Nicodemus:  Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.”  (John 3:5-7)  Jesus wanted Nicodemus to understand that the miraculous works he observed Jesus doing revealed the kingdom of God coming down to Earth to all people.  Jesus wanted him to know that no one can enter into God’s eternal kingdom without faith in Jesus Christ and his supernatural works.  He alone is the gate to God’s dominion, his provision for eternal life.  John 3:16-17, clarifies that faith in Jesus and his works leads to eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Through faith in Jesus, we become new creatures, totally fit for the household of God.  But we see Peter saying that we must be holy.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”  What does this holiness refer to?  What are the acts of holiness?  Are we new creatures, born by the Spirit in God’s image or are we still people of the flesh who must display acts of holiness to enter into the kingdom of God?  Peter goes on to tell us that as foreigners in an alien land of the flesh, we should live our lives in reverent fear.  Is this fear of losing our salvation, or is this fear an awareness that we should respect our Father, the eternal God?  We must live upright lives, for we are children of a righteous God.  Peter warns us to display God’s nature in our lives, the Holy Spirit’s attributes: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  However, the real question is, are we holy or not?  Is it true that we are born again, viable spiritual beings, capable to live in God’s kingdom or are we spiritual premies, living in the hospital ward of the flesh, waiting for the full development of our spiritual beings with some trepidation that we might not make it out of the premie center and into God’s kingdom?  Are we free now as a complete work IN CHRIST, fully developed with all of our hands, feet, organs or are we partially birthed, reflecting part new creature, part old creature?  The Bible is true when it says, And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.  (1 John 5:11-12 KJV)  We are not half-slave and half-free.  Jesus completed the work when He said it was finished at the cross.

Often when we Christians consider our walk with Christ and the holiness we should display at all times, we tend to think of our lives as if we were on an eternal balance beam.  In gymnastics, one of the routines demanded of gymnasts is to perform on the balance beam, an apparatus consisting of a four inch wide board, four feet off the floor, sixteen feet long.  To perform well on this board, demands much balance, physical dexterity, and strength.  Most of us would fall off immediately, even while not attempting any movement such as walking.  To stay on top of this four inch wide beam for any length of time is an impossibility, even for the most seasoned gymnast.  Sooner or later everyone falls.  For the Olympic performer, maybe a day or two, but all will eventually land on the floor.  In the spiritual sense, when we attempt to live holy lives, lives completely pleasing to God at all times, we fall off the beam.  Of course, we know God does not tolerate even the shadow of sin; He is exact, perfect in everything He is and does.  We are not!  We wobble, we fall.  Consequently, which one of us is exact, perfect?  Only Jesus, He fulfills God’s demands of exactness, perfection.  We who have placed our trust in Jesus rest in that fact.  Christ is perfect, not us.  We are free from the consequences of eternal damnation because Christ has paved the way for our everlasting life with God.  He has gone before us, through death and the resurrection.  We vicariously died with him, and we are raised with him to eternal life.  He went to the Father, we too will follow him to the Father.  We all say with our brother, Paul, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20)  So, breakfast friends, rejoice in the provisions of the new life, one of which is holiness, that God has given freely to you.  You are not beggars, mendicants, hoping to make it to heaven, if only you are good enough, living an acceptable life of holiness.  Cults and other false religions believe that striving is the primary way of making it to the next life.  No, you have a life in you that is the life of Christ.  You have eternal life existing in you because the Holy Spirit’s power exists in you.  You have Jesus holding your hand as God held his hand in this life.  Breakfast companions, on this journey, you are children of God, walking with Jesus, holding his hand.  Often, you look up at his face, asking, “Where are we going?”  “We are going to the Promised Land!  We will meet the Father there.” 

Dear friends around this table, do not define your lives by your weaknesses.  You are not your failures; the times you disappointed yourself, the times you knew that you had sinned too willfully, too readily, and too completely.  Don’t look at those times as if you have fallen off the balance beam without hope for a future.  God has placed your spiritual lives in his hands.  You are not redeemed by your works, but his works.  If you could have performed well on the balance beam of life at all times, you would not need a Savior.  The works of Christ would have been superfluous, unnecessary.  The law and the talent of obedience would have been enough to stay on that balance beam of righteousness, perfection.  Intentionality, dedication, discipline, hard work, fortitude would keep you right with God.  Christ would not be needed.  And if you happened to fall off for some reason under the governance of the law, you could restore yourself on the beam of rightness by the talents of obedience and self-will.  But this is not the answer for flesh, for the flesh is always wayward, self-oriented, giving no total obedience to anyone, especially to law.  The flesh is under the gravity pull of sin, pulling us off the narrow way of rightness with God.  But God had a plan of redemption for the wayward, the unredeemable, the unholy.  Christ suffered, was humiliated, and persecuted.   He died because we could not find perfection through our own efforts.  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.  (1 Peter 3:18)  Christ alone was the answer, for we could not be sons and daughters of the Most High by our own dedication, discipline.  As Paul wrote, we could not save ourselves, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.  (Titus 3:5)  No, we needed a savior, we needed someone who could walk that beam perfectly, forever.  Of course, that is the Perfect One, the Exact One, Jesus Christ.  He paid the price for our failures, our wobbliness.  We are presently in his arms, walking the beam of rightness before the Father.  Yes, be holy, for God is holy.  We should represent God in the best way we can, in and out of season, every day, everywhere.  Putting off the rags of this world, the thinking of this world, we do work to show ourselves as obedient servants of the Most High.  But perfection, righteousness, holiness without a shadow of a flaw in us, rest only in Jesus Christ and his works for us.  Be free dear friends in the Lord.  If you are truly free, resting in his holiness, you will be as joyful as a calf set free from a restrictive pen.  This joyfulness is the beginning of all revivals, for people cannot resist those who have been set free from the bondage of right and wrong, of condemnation, of striving.  As the Bible says, those who have been set free are free indeed.  Love, Dad and Mom

1 Peter 1:10-12 Grace to You!

1 Peter 1:10-12  Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.  Even angels long to look into these things. 

The Old Testament represents an expository of the Good News that God would at some future time rescue mankind from its fallen state, its absence from God’s intimate presence.  As the prophets expounded, this position of hopelessness would not always exist, for the redemption of mankind was in the heart of God, and this redemption would come through a person known as the Messiah.  He would bless the world and break down the barrier between man and God.  This restoration plan to reclaim a wayward creation existed with God from the beginning of time.  A new life had to be formed in the hearts of men.  A new creature had to come forth from the midst of their old lives.  Although hopelessly lost, someday a newness of life would come to the souls of men and women, saving them for all eternity.  The plan of creating new life in a lost, sinful people was evident in how God dealt with Noah.  He destroyed the people of that era, knowing their constant sinfulness, their destructive, self-willed nature, would never change.  He decided to save a few, a  remnant, even though they too were evil from their conception, for they were conceived out of sinful flesh.  We find in God’s covenant with Noah, God said, Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.  (Genesis 9:11)  And He set a rainbow in the clouds as a sign of his commitment to mercy.  In this covenant with Noah, we see the anguish of God toward his wayward creation.  God decides not to extinguish mankind, but allows them to exist to eventually fulfill his purpose of knowing him in an intimate manner.  He made mankind in his image; He made them to live harmoniously with him, without experiencing good and evil, designed to know only good.  God gloried in mankind; He interacted with Adam and Eve in the evening time.  He knew that once again, in the last days, after the Holy Spirit was poured out on all people who accepted Christ, He would glory in their interaction with him.

Later on in the Old Testament, we see God dealing with the man Abraham.  Just as with Noah, God picks out a man who has a desire to know God, to hear his voice, to obey what he hears from God.  Just as God’s voice caused Noah to build an ark, He caused Abraham to leave his country of origin in obedience to his will.  Because of Abraham’s willingness to believe God, the covenant of mercy and grace by faith was presented to mankind.  Mankind would find an acceptance by God, a rightness with him through their belief in his promises to them.  God’s foundational promise to Abraham was that He would bless all nations eventually through the seed of Abraham; of course, that seed was the Messiah who would come in due time.  All nations would be blessed through the loins of the man Abraham.  God said, I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  (Genesis 12:2)  The law was introduced 400 years after Abraham to protect the promise God made to the man of faith.  The law was to keep the seed of Abraham preserved from destruction.  Mankind’s waywardness, sinfulness, always leads to death—sin left unchecked will result in chaos and destruction.  The law brought order to the Jewish people, restraining them from doing everything their flesh desired.  The Jewish people constantly broke away from these laws, but the efficacious nature of the law saved a remnant.  Through this remnant, the promise of Abraham came to fruition; the Messiah was born, the Son of Man, as Jesus Christ called himself.  Speaking of himself, Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”  (Matthew 24:37) 

Of course, this knowledge of the Messiah coming to rescue the Jewish nation and the world from the corruption of sin was central in the prophets’ proclamations.  We see the prophet Isaiah’s prediction of the Savior: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.  He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.  (7:14-15)  Jesus himself quotes from Isaiah.  In Luke 4 we see Jesus going to Nazareth, where he grew up, and He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath where he read from the scroll of Isaiah, and selected the place where we find Isaiah 61:1-2: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah coming to save the world from its destructive nature was realized in Jesus Christ, for He takes this mantel of the Messiah on himself.  His many miracles and his eventual death and resurrection fulfill God’s plan of creating new life, a new people who can intimately be with him in perfection for all of eternity.  The culmination of God’s plan for a wayward creation came to realization through the works and death of Jesus Christ.  Who of us cannot praise God with great joy for another of Isaiah’s prophecies: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his named shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  (6:9 KJV) 

The Spirit of God has carried this wonderful good news of restoring mankind to their Creator through the ages; from generation to generation; from century to century; from millennium to millennium.  The prophets, the angels desired to see this good news come to realization, always looking forward to that day when the Messiah would come and fulfill the plan of God for mankind.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”  (Luke 2:10)  The reclamation of the people made in God’s image was completed through Jesus Christ 2000 years ago.  He lived a sinless life and then died as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind.  He was without sin, yet brutalized for our benefit.  He paid the righteous judgment for sin—all our human imperfections—which is death.  We who were lost, who could never enter into the perfection of eternity, needed redemption, needed to be new creatures, with the nature eternity could accept.  But now, because of the Messiah who was predicted ages ago to be the balm of Gilead, we now have found great favor with God the Father because his only begotten Son lives with him in great favor.  We are blessed for we are IN JESUS, AND HE IS IN US.  With Simeon, the man who saw the baby Jesus and took him in his arms to bless him, we also who are alive IN CHRIST, praise God for the salvation He prepared for us.   At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon.  He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel.  The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.  That day the Spirit led him to the Temple.  So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there.  He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace as you have promised.  I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people.  He is a light to reveal God to the nations and he is the glory of your people Israel!”  (Luke 2: 25-32)  God let Simeon die in peace, rejoicing in seeing the fulfillment of God’s promise to him and to all people in the light of Jesus, God’s Son.  May we all rejoice today in this great gift of mercy and grace, for God has revealed his great love to us through his Son’s victory over sin and death.  

  

1 Peter 1:6-9 Gift of God!

1 Peter 1:6-9  In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE.  We have, as we read last week, an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.  This eternal life is now—we are imperishable because of the gift of life within us.  Jesus has made us new creatures, forever alive IN HIM.  We should always hold fast to that fact in our minds and spirits even when we suffer grief or go through trials.  For the end result of our faith is the salvation of our souls.  We who are believers are recipients of this message of eternal life even though we have not seen the Lord in the flesh.  Salvation: the gift of eternal life is ours through the Spirit.  Yes, our corrupted flesh will die someday.  We have all been damaged by the terminal disease of sin.  We have no defense against this virus.  Man has tried in his own efforts to defeat this scourge of sin but nothing touches its lethalness.  Societies, cultures have created laws, establishing them in their communities to keep the flesh under control.  Yet, our natural inclinations cause us to break established laws that keep societies from chaos.  If the flesh can get away with it, it will do it.  Look at the traffic laws established for our own safety.  People routinely violate those laws.  Look at our income tax regulations.  People will step over the line to benefit themselves by paying fewer taxes even while knowing they are pushing the regulations too far.  We are like cattle, pushing on a fence to get better grass, distorting the fence line, breaking down or bending the fenceposts.  Breaking societal rules and laws is one thing, but breaking our own standards of what is right and wrong is another thing.  Jesus castigated the Pharisees who looked righteous on the outside, but inside they were lawbreakers.  Their minds were so corrupt that He described them as whited sepulchers, decomposed and stinky on the inside of their tombs.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  (Matthew 23:27-28)  Our own laws that we set up for ourselves are often in danger of being curbed or broken.  We might proclaim that we will never get unreasonably angry at someone again or never again be envious of those who are rich.  Or we might say that we will always treat people with kindness and generosity.  But under certain pressures, our best intentions are often broken down to the point we are ashamed that we allowed our minds to wander to such depths, causing us to commit actions that violate our own sense of right and wrong.  We are natural lawbreakers.  Sin has taken a stranglehold of our lives from which we cannot escape.  We are definitely susceptible to waywardness when we suffer wrong from others.  But as Peter said, when we are under stress in life because of others or our own failures, we should rejoice, remembering we are under the grace of God: children of the Most High.  Trials, difficulties, and suffering test our faith, not to judge how well we keep the law, but to test whether we truly trust in Jesus Christ.  The more we are refined by experiencing the vicissitudes of life, the better Christ is revealed through us.  The more we are tested, the more our salvation through Jesus Christ is exposed to the world.  Peter says we should rejoice in this knowledge of Jesus and his substitutionary eternal nature for our sinful, finite nature.

Jesus is the bread of life.  Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  (John 6:35)   Even though manna was given to the Jews in the wilderness supernaturally from God, the manna did not support eternal life.  All who ate of it eventually died.  Manna was a gift from God to a starving people, but it was not a food that would sustain eternal life.  Jesus Christ is the eternal food that energizes life forever.  All must eat of him and drink of him.   For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.  (John 6:40)  Even though Jesus Christ lived as a man in every way, He is the bread of life.  He is the manna from heaven that places eternal life into all who put their trust in his words and actions.  Christ is the bread, indicating very clearly that there are two realities to this human existence: flesh and spirit.  The Bible explains that there is a spiritual reality that all must enter into if they are going to experience life forever with God.  The flesh was fed by manna; the spirit is fed by Jesus Christ.  The former is finite, fulfilling a temporary need; the latter is forever, continuously provided.  Christians will feed off of Jesus throughout eternity.  He provides the life that never ends.  Peter says we should rejoice in this fact of eternal salvation; our souls are forever in the creative work of JESUS CHRIST.  We are the born again people, created anew by the one who created all things.  Consequently, troubles and trials we experience in this life should be considered only as refining elements of our faith in Jesus Christ.  These experiences of difficulties should cause us to rejoice for God is perfecting his work in us.  This is hard for us to grasp when we are despairing about the conditions we find ourselves experiencing.  Peter, in writing to those who are being persecuted, to those who are being rejected in their community because of their belief in Christ, reminds them that this world is not their home.  He wants them to realize that this life should not be held onto so dearly.  They should appreciate that everything they are experiencing is insignificant compared to the great glory that they will receive when they see God.  God will honor them, and all of creation will know them as the children of God, sons and daughters of the Most High.  The crowns they will wear will be of royalty.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.  (2 Timothy 4:8)

Today as we seek answers for our lives, let us hold onto the truth of the gospel.  Jesus Christ and him crucified is the story of redemption.  He, as the first resurrected one, is the story of new life forever.  Paul told Timothy, “If we died with him, we shall also live with him.”  (2 Timothy 2:11)  Truly, now we are raised in him, sitting in heavenly places.  This is sometimes hard for us to conceive with our natural minds.  How can we who are so temporary know anything about eternity?  We find it hard to imagine a future life with the Creator, but the apostles preached new life to everyone who placed their trust in Jesus Christ.  Peter in his letter to the Christians in Asia Minor reiterates this hope, reminding the Christians to hold fast to their faith regardless of the trials they experienced.  We who are far removed from the days of the early church also must adhere to Christ, regardless of the difficulties and failures in life.  We must not remove ourselves from the real reason of this finite existence.  Our brief time on Earth gives us the opportunity to discover the manna of eternal life—the Bread of Life.  God sent Jesus to redeem people who are made in his image.  He has a love for us that is greater than we can imagine.  When Paul talked about his love for the Jews, he states, I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel.  (Romans 9:1-3)  We see in this passage Paul’s great love for his own people.  He loved them so much that he would become a curse for them.  This is God’s love for us.  He sent Jesus who became a curse for us.  Jesus faced oblivion, so that we might not face eternal oblivion.  Dear friends, do not lose this image of God’s love for you, his anguish over your state of separation from him, without the possibility of redemption.  Your efforts will never be enough.  Your best work will always fall short of his perfection, exactness.  We are wobbly human beings: some days good, some days not so good.  God does not tolerate “not so good.”  He will come in a twinkling of an eye, before anything can be done to rectify our condition.  He will measure us according to his perfection, his exactness.  If we are found in any other dimension than the perfection we find in Christ, we will receive the full anger of God on unrighteousness.  This means we will be put away from his intimate presence; we will be forever without a home with our Maker, experiencing the judgment of being without God, a fiery trial that will never end.  Peter wants you to endure by faith when circumstances exceed your understanding of God’s mercy and grace.  Hang tough when you are beginning to doubt God in your life.  Hang tough when life seems not to pay off with the good things you thought God would give you.  Hang tough!  For God’s blessing of eternal life resides in you through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Nothing can separate you from that life if you endure by faith to the end.  Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him.  (James 1:12)  

1 Peter 1:1-5 Grace and Peace!

1 Peter 1:1-5  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.  This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 

In this letter Peter addresses the Christians who have come to Jesus Christ in Asia Minor.  Of course, many are strangers to him, but they are in the body of Christ, facing persecution and trouble for their faith.  They are those who have been chosen to be obedient to Jesus Christ, for they have been sprinkled with his blood, the cleansing blood that ransomed their souls from eternal death.  Peter tells them that even though they face danger from this world, they are shielded eternally by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  Peter knew the Christians throughout Asia Minor experienced difficulty in living their daily lives.  They faced even the possibility of dying for Christ.  He writes this letter to strengthen their faith, to remind them of what Christ did for them at the cross, and that they need to keep in mind at all times the eternal plan of God, the plan to have them exist with him forever as his children in his household.  Peter comforts the people with God’s provision for them: In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.  However, the hope of eternal life in God’s presence must have been difficult for them when their everyday lives experienced isolation and rejection from their relatives, friends, and community.  The label of Christian brought trouble to their lives, for it was considered anathema by the communities and cultures where they lived.  Surely, some of these believers often were tempted to recant their experience with Christ, to say that their excursion into Christianity was only a temporary journey of instability.  With this constant threat on their eternal lives, Peter wrote to bolster their faith, making sure they understood the efficacy of the cross and God’s faithfulness.  Peter reenforces the idea that Christ’s death and his resurrection has shielded all who place their faith in Jesus’ eternal being.  By holding fast to their faith in Jesus Christ and his work, they can endure successfully the trials of this world.  Persecution and even the threat of death cannot take this new life IN CHRIST from their existence.  A little later in this letter, Peter writes, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  (1 Peter 4:12)   Peter desired them to know that nothing this world can do to them, could destroy God’s magnificent plan for them, accomplished in heaven already, of making them children in the eternal family of God.  The cross and the resurrection have made them eternal beings, and because of this reality they can and will endure any persecution that is thrown against them.  In this world, nothing can take away the new life in them. 

The Good News has never changed throughout the centuries since Christ’s death.  Peter’s encouragement to the believers in Asia Minor remains a need in every church: hold fast to the work of the cross, continue your lives in faith, believing every word that comes from the mouth of God.  Unless we believe the word of God over what we see, hear, and experience, we will be weakened in our faith, confused by the world around us.  The believers in Peter’s time were under pressure to give up on Christianity.  In some parts of our world today, many are under the same pressure.  Even their livelihood is threatened by others who demand they give up their belief in Christ.  In the developed parts of the world, persecution is not usually a threat to Christians’ viability; instead, it is the materialism of the world, the desire to win this world for personal benefit, that most threatens the work of Christ.  This python of lukewarmness is a danger to the redeeming message of Jesus Christ.  It squeezes out the fact that everyone who desires a successful life must give his or her life to Christ, that we must die to the things of this world to live in the next world with God.  The Bible is very explicit in this area.  Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)  We are forever tempted by our senses to live for this world, for our senses tell us that they govern what is life and what isn’t life; nothing else matters but what we perceive with our senses.  If that is the case, why should we forsake our indulgences for something we cannot see or know by our daily experiences and perceptions.  But Peter is reminding them in this letter that life is more than what you are experiencing even if you are under the threat of death.  Eternal life is the precious gift God has given to all those who believe in the work of the cross.  Nothing should supersede or overwhelm this fact: not difficulties, persecution, death or even lukewarmness.  All should succumb to the Good News that eternal life with God has been brought to mankind.  Jesus said, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  (Matthew 16:24)

For the persecuted people of Peter’s time and for the believers of this age, we should keep in mind that before we came to Christ we were dead in our trespasses and sins.  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  (Ephesians 2:1-7)  Before Christ redeemed us through our faith in him, we were all away from God, separated from his presence.  Our hearts were cold to God, so cold that we were without life, for God is life.  We walked according to the world, following the prince of the power of the air.  This spirit of darkness is evident in all people who are disobedient to God.  As people who are dead to God, we fellowshipped gladly with other sinful people who also lived without God.  As people of our own will, we completely satisfied the sinful pleasures of our minds and flesh.  Because of that godless lifestyle, we were targets of God’s righteous wrath.  Nonetheless, God in his wonderful nature of grace and mercy, rescued us through Christ’s work on the cross.  His death was for all of us, so that we might not die under God’s wrath, his hatred of sin.  Consequently, God quickened us in Christ—He brought us out of the grave with Christ into a new life.  Even as Jesus came out of the grave, we came out because of our faith in his resurrecting work.  God’s mercy, his grace, saved us from eternal damnation.  Peter wanted believers of his time to remember and to hold fast to that wonderful reality.  We, in our day, also need to remember the glorious redemptive plan of God.  If we do so, no trouble, adversity, persecution, or threat of death can keep us from knowing God and his love.  This knowledge should energize our souls to work for him, to live for him, even causing us to put down our tendency for lukewarmness and pick up the passion for Christ and his work.  We will say with our brother, Paul, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38-39)  God bless you as you walk in your inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.