Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Living With Eternity In Sight

How to get through this world while you wait for Jesus return.


humble, eternity, Bible, devil

1 Peter 5:6-11  So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

10 In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. 11  All power to Him forever! Amen.

As Peter comes to the close of his letter to the churches in Asia Minor he gives them a summary of how to live and what their attitude should be as they wait for Christ return. It is a message that is just as relevant to us today.

Humility


One of the biggest struggles that we have is with humility, God knew that we would have a challenge in this area, so the importance of humility is taught throughout the Bible. Humility is required for salvation, we need it in order to see ourselves the way that God sees us, without humility we will not turn to God and ask for help. From that point on our lives should be known for humility, once we see ourselves the way that God sees us, we should find it difficult to view ourselves as much without him.
Isaiah 57:15  The high and lofty One who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: "I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.
It can be difficult to yield to God's plan and humbly allow his power to work in your life, he may bring calamity and difficulty for a season in order to bring glory to himself or the hard times may be there for your spiritual growth, sometimes it might look easier to take the controls and do things our way.

Here is a statement that I found in a commentary on these verses: "If we do not humble ourselves under God’s grace then he will humble us under his judgments." Either we will humble ourselves voluntarily or the day will come when we will be humbled by God.

Trust


It is difficult to trust in this world that is full of selfishness and pride, we all try and get our way and look out for ourselves but there is a place and a person that you can put your trust, a place where we can unload without fear. We can go to the cross where we are completely accepted by God and we can trust him to lighten our load.
Psalms 55:22  Give your burdens to the LORD, and He will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
What more can anyone wish for than to know that the great and merciful God of the universe thinks about you? Not only does he think about you but he also cares! Amazing thought isn't it?

Stay Alert and Stand Firm


Watch out! Satan will try to use any opportunity to make our lives useless for God. Initially he is out to destroy you by making you a prisoner to death but once you are a child of God and you are no longer under the curse of death his next plan is to make you useless for God.
James 4:7-8  So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
Satan will try to make you fearful and ineffective but we can stand our ground if we stay alert to his schemes. Our best defense against that "roaring lion" is to stay close to God. It seems to me that the devil must hate God and be repulsed by him and the last thing that he wants to do is hangout close to him. So if I am staying close to God then the devil won't want to come close to me.

Perspective


It is best to live with your long term goal in site. Do you have a long term goal? Every child of God has one but too often the stuff of this world will try and take our focus from the eternal glory that we will share with Jesus and get our focus on the short term problems around us.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18  For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!   So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
God has called me to greater things than I can imagine! God will take care of every need for this life and he will provide for my eternal destination. The devil will use the pain and trouble of this world to try and get me off track but I will choose to "fix my gaze on things that cannot be seen."

Thank you Lord for teaching me how to get through this world, thank you for loving me and giving me a new perspective on how to live, help me to keep my eyes on the eternal.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

The Church Needs Good Shepherds

Shepherds have a difficult task but the rewards are awesome.


shepherd, church leaders, attitude

1 Peter 5:1-4 And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you:  

2 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. 3 Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.

4 And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.

The secular example of leadership in world history is one of domination, from the Philistines to the Babylonians to the Romans, they all ruled with an iron fist. Even the Jewish religious leaders took up this autocratic leadership style of force and intimidation. Authority was not usually associated with concern, forgiveness or mercy.

Peter is writing this book to the persecuted church, the leaders in Judaism and the Roman government are intimidating the followers of Jesus to try and get rid of this new movement, Peter is telling the church leaders that in the face of persecution the church needs leaders to lead.

Peter found out the hard way that leaders are made and they are proven when times are tough. Peter failed when the pressures was on, he blew in no time right after boldly announcing his allegiance, Jesus forgave him and he also gave him a fresh mandate to take care of the flock. After that Peter went on to become the solid rock that Jesus had said that he would become.
Matthew 20:25-26 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.
The world had never seen leadership done the way that Jesus did it, the world had never seen a servant be a leader, the only thing that servants did was perform the jobs that nobody else would do. Jesus example shows us that we need to take care of the flock that God has placed in our care and serve them with the right attitude, cheerfully eager to serve God with Christlike humility, self-sacrifice, and affection for the sheep.
Psalm 23:1-3 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. 2 He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. 3 He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.
If you read the entire twenty third Psalm you will catch a glimpse of the perfect shepherd, one that supplies every need, one that leads his sheep to safety, feeds them, brings them through the darkest days and prepares a place for them to live with him in his presence for eternity.

We must remember that the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, will one day return and review our work. Will you be found following his example?

Thursday, April 11, 2013

The Believer's Survival Guide

How to live in this world while you are looking forward to eternity.


spiritual warfare, enemy, suffering

1 Peter 2:12  Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world.

1 Peter 3:13-18 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good?

14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats.

15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.

17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

It is important for God's children to behave differently than the rest of the world, Peter tells us to live "properly" in front of our unbelieving neighbors, they are watching you and you need to be concerned about what they see.

Peter has been telling the recipients of his letter that they will suffer, as an alien in an ungodly culture, there will be attacks. The ungodly will harass and persecute believers and so we need to be ready for it and know how to defend ourselves and we need to know how to cope with not fitting in.

Be Careful How You Live

Survival Guide Tip #1

There is a pretty good chance that if you do the right thing then very few people will try and harm you or give you a difficult time. Being passionate about living with the fruit of the spirit will silence most of your critics.

This isn't always true, your passion for goodness will be more than some people can take, sometimes a righteous person will suffer at the hand of godless men because your virtuous life will irritate them.

Worship God Constantly

Survival Guide Tip #2

Instead of worrying about it we should be worshiping and honoring God. Our concern should be with God and his desire for my life but instead we take our eyes off of him and worry about what man can do and what they may think about us.

Jesus is Lord and we need to remember that is sovereign and he is in control. It takes a total surrender to God to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord in the midst of your pain and suffering. If God's plan and purpose is to work through you in your suffering then you should rejoice that he is working his plan out through you.

Be Ready To Explain

Survival Guide Tip #3

Your godly living will make a stir and people will probably have some questions for you. After you have their attention you should be ready to tell them why you are so strange. We should be able to give a polite, biblical answer to explain the motivation for our lifestyle and the reason that we are a Christian.

You may think, "How will that help me?" The fact is if you don't fully understand what you believe and why then there is the possibility that you will doubt what you believe when the pressure is on.

A Pure Conscience

Survival Guide Tip #4

You have to rely on your conscience when the accusations and insults are flying at you, your conscience is a device that God gave you to keep you out of trouble, it is a source of conviction or affirmation.

If the conscience knows that we are in sin, it will nag at us. If the conscience knows that we are living in obedience, it will affirm us and help us realize that our accusers are wrong.

It is up to us to decide why we are suffering. Are you suffering for doing good? Are you suffering because God is trying to correct you?

Thank you Lord for giving me hope and encouraging me with the wisdom found in your word.

Monday, April 08, 2013

Living The Good Life

Loving what the world has to offer is contrary to being in love with God.



1 Peter 3:8-12  Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it.  

10 For the Scriptures say, "If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.  11  Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.  12  The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and His ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns His face against those who do evil."

Just about everybody that you know is trying to live the good life, some people like to say that they are "living the dream," there is a lot of effort made everyday to make the day that you have the best it can be. Too bad that effort isn't being put into something that will last.

This world is full of ideas about what the good life looks like and how to achieve it. Everywhere you look you see plenty of ideas on how to make it happen. The television, magazines, radio are full of programs that want to help you know what the good life looks like and the advertisers are ready to sell you all of the stuff that is required to make it happen. They feel like they are doing you a favor by letting you know how to be happy.

Let's be honest, the world has some pretty cool toys but loving what the world has to offer is contrary to being in love with God. If anybody should have been happy with the world's toys it should have been King Solomon. At first he was so in love with God that he didn't desire the world and all of it's riches and toys and so it was very commendable when he asked God for wisdom instead of riches. Too bad he left his first love and allowed the things that the world has to offer to get in the way.
1 Peter 4:1-5 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. 2 You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.

3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.

4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. 5 But remember that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead.
The people that Peter is writing to do not have any of those good things that the world has to offer. They are poor and they are being persecuted and harassed for their departure from Judaism to follow Christ. Don't think that this is a problem for the rich and famous, we can all get caught up in the deception that the world has something meaningful to offer.

Loving what the world has to offer is contrary to being in love with God and loving God means that I need to love what he loves. I should be anxious to do what pleases him. I am finished with the lust of the old sinful life that I once lived, I have figured out that there isn't any long term enjoyment in those things, they only lead to heartache and sorrow.

Satan never shows you the discontentment and the eternal consequences that his plan has to offer. He tries so hard to keep it upbeat and positive but despite all of the spin the discontentment of living by the world's standards shows up when we loose our joy and get angry, bitterness and resentment creep in and we overindulge.
1 Peter 2:11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
This is not my home and the philosophies of this world are not acceptable to me as a follower of Christ. My happiness is not found in the places that this world is telling everybody to look. My happiness is found in living for the one that changed my life and gave me the riches of eternity spend with him.

Thank you Lord for changing my life here on earth and for changing my eternal destiny!

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Playing Well With Others

Authority, everybody likes to have it and nobody likes to yield to it.


authority, submit

1 Peter 2:13-14 For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.

1 Peter 2:18 You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel.

1 Peter 3:1-2 In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over 2 by observing your pure and reverent lives.

1 Peter 3:7-9 In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. 9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it.

Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has tempted us by questioning authority, he lied about God and Adam and Eve began to wonder about God's intentions and whether the rules that he gave them were fair. God's commandments have been questioned every moment of everyday ever since and we see the consequences all around us but we still want to live life our way.

Accepting authority and being submissive is required of every child of God, it is necessary in our relationships, starting with God and going down the line to every other relationship that we have. From government, the work place and our family, there is an order that God designed to help us live together in harmony.

We see the idea of submission demonstrated in the Trinity, all of them working together in unison, each of them fulfilling a role and each of them bringing glory to the other and doing what is beneficial to the Trinity.

✔ Jesus sought to bring glory to God the Father. (John 15:10)
✔ Jesus willingly died for us. (John 10:17-18)
✔ The Holy Spirit gives Jesus glory. (John 16:13-15)
✔ God the Father gave glory back to Jesus. (John 8:54, 17:24)
✔ The Holy Spirit didn't refuse when he was sent to us. (John 14:26, Acts 1:4-5)

Too bad we do not get to enjoy this oneness and cooperative spirit from the people that we relate to.
Philippians 2:3-8 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Jesus is our ultimate example of submission and looking out for the needs of others. Deserving glory and honor yet he came to us selfless and humble to take care of us. We all need to follow Christ example and look for ways to bless others.

I need to yield to authority, give up my own authority and be submissive to others in my country, my workplace and with my family and friends.