According to
Saint Peter in I Peter 4:7, he encourages the believer to live soberly and by
doing so they will possess self-control and their life will reflect a life
given to prayer. If we live a life that reflects our faith in the fact that Christ
could return at any moment, we will not be ashamed to display His truth to
others. Because by doing so, our lives will reflect the proper urgency that the
scriptures exhort us to have. For we know what the gospel message holds for
everyone that longs to be set free and know the truth. The evidence of our love
for God is shown in how we treat others. Peter continues in verse 8-19 that
when love abounds in God’s children, there is an indispensable element of
hospitality and charity that covers a multitude of sin. These virtues need to
be exercised by God’s people to each other as well as to those who may disagree
with us. Peter goes on to remind his readers that when something unusual or
strange happens to them for doing so, to be reminded that all believer’s will
partake in some of the same sufferings that Christ had to bear and those
sufferings are to be regarded with exceeding joy. Peter testifies that
believers should never suffer as murderer’s, thief’s, evil doers or busy bodies
but if they are to suffer, to suffer for being a Christian in verse 16 and when
they suffer for that reason, then they should not be ashamed. Peter exhorts his
readers by reminding them that God provides every believer with all that is
necessary to lead a life that reflects Christ’s life within them. He assures
them that their profession is made real as their life bears the evidence of
what they believe and what they have to say about the risen Savior. How a
person regards themselves is often a good index of their character. The closer
I draw myself to God, the further I realize how far away I have been.
As an
unbeliever, my life was dominated by my natural inclinations to sin against God
and those inclinations in my past estimation of myself were sins of no value in
my mind. For I had concluded that since I had never killed anyone or considered
myself an evil person, I must be alright before God. Yet when I came face to
face with Christ, I suddenly recognized sin as God see’s sin and even the
tiniest, most smallest sin in my life became pure rebellion against a Holy God
and my penalty for those sins, was hell. Words cannot express how a person
feels when they meet Jesus on the road to hell and He reveals Himself to them.
I think it is best described by the testimony of the blind man whom Jesus
healed when he was approached by the Sanhedrin and religious leaders as they
tried to compel the man to give false accusations about Jesus, and the man
simply said to them, that he knew not what they were talking about or had
answers to their questions. All he did know was that once he was blind and when
Jesus touched his eyes with a mudpack of spit and dirt, all of a sudden he
could see!
Some people
want to see oceans part and mountains move in order to put their trust in God.
For some, like myself, need only to be willing to see as God sees and when we
are willing to do that, mountains become molehills and oceans are lined with
boardwalks. I may not have all the answers to all the questions that folks may
have concerning the Son of God, even though the scriptures themselves bear
those answers, but for what I do know
about Him I will spread the good news until my dying day in hopes that someone
just like me will come to meet the man Jesus, whom I met on the road to hell.
Once I gave my life to Christ, I then had only one inclination and that was to
be delivered from the corruption that my sin nature had me bound to. The
scriptures tell us that the regenerated person is given a new nature, a new
life and to the largest degree that life can and should be a product of that
new nature. Today if you cannot say for sure that your life does not reflect
the new nature that is spoken about in the Word of God, then may I encourage to
get alone with God and speak to Him concerning your own personal relationship
to Him. He is only a sincere prayer away.
Loving on you
today sweet friend,
Bren
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