Some quick thoughts from 1 Peter 1:1-5…

v1 – “pilgrims” – those who have no claim to the place they find themselves; passers-through. Does that describe me today? Am I comfortable in this world with its toys, games, diversions, anger, violence, sexuality, etc? Hopefully not!

v2 – “elect according to the foreknowledge of God” – People often debate the doctrine of Election, but it is clearly in Scripture. I won’t get into it right now, but here again, if “Election” really meant “foreknowledge” (i.e.: God fore-knew who would be saved, which He does anyway) than why would the Holy Spirit inspire Peter to write both words, “elect” and “foreknowledge”? God has elected or chosen some.

v2 – “in sanctification of the Spirit” – It is the Holy Spirit who makes us more like Jesus.

v2 – Why are we chosen? Why does God save us? “So you can live and do what you want” Um, NO. Scripture does NOT say that. It says “for obedience” as Peter writes in verse 2. I heard over the weekend the statement, “Jesus does not own those whom He can’t command.”

v2 – “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” – Just as Moses sprinkled the people of Israel with the blood of animals to signify their being under covenant with God, we are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Himself into a much better and lasting covenant.

v3 – “according to His abundant mercy” – God the Father is abundantly merciful! When you are tempted to doubt God’s mercy, by faith STOP and recall His mercy! How many examples from Scripture can you name? How many from your own life?

v3 – Christians have now a “living hope” – a vibrant anticipation. But based on what?

v3 – “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” – “In Him we have life” John writes.

v4 – Look at what is stored up for you, Believer! An inheritance “incorruptible”, “undefiled”, that “does not fade away” that is “reserved in heaven for” (___Insert Your Name Here!!___)

v5 – That inheritance is not for everyone. If you don’t know Christ you can write your name in there all you want, but does you no good. It is for those who are “kept” not by their own works but by “the power of God through faith for salvation”

Reader, have you checked your eternal retirement savings lately? Are you rich through God because of His mercy, and faith to obedience, or are you bankrupt because of your own rejection of the goodness and kindness of God?

Posted: January 11th, 2010 under Challenge, Devotions, Scripture.
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Posted: August 17th, 2009 under Challenge.
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“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.” (Ex. 13:21,22)

At the Red Sea, as Pharaoh’s chariots raced towards the Israelites: “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other” (Ex 14:19,20)

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor 1:18,23,24)

Pharaoh’s charioteers raced into darkness. They ran their horses headlong into what resulted in chaos and judgment. The redeemed of the Lord traveled onward, relying only on the light God provided, in the way He instructed them, to lead them to where He wanted–and eventually to a land “flowing with milk and honey”. Two very different ends. One was to obfuscation and the other to revelation. One was to death and the other to life. One sped onward in hardened disobedience while the other journeyed in new-found blessed obedience.

We see a similar divider in the New Testament, the Cross of Christ. There are only two types of people in the world: those of think it foolish and those who have come to know it to be the power of God to salvation. As with the cloud, so with the cross. Each divides between two very different ends: obfuscation and revelation, death to live, hardened disobedience or blessed obedience.

Finally, an invitation to you friend. If you were back in the days of the Exodus, what side of the pillar of cloud would you be on? At this very hour, what side of the cross are you on?

“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
(Eph 5:14)

Posted: August 6th, 2009 under Challenge, Devotions, Scripture.
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1. God gave the pre-flood world one more week to repent. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark…For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.‘” (Gen 6:5-7a; 7:1,4)

2. God gave the Egyptians a whole day’s warning and urged them to safeguard their livestock and possessions. “Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as not been in Egypt since its founding until now. Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home; and they shall die.” (Exodus 9:18,19)

3. Much to Jonah’s annoyance, God cared enough to send him to warn the people of Ninevah to repent, caring even for the animals in that city. “And should I not pity Ninevah, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right and and their left–and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11)

This is the grace and kindness and tender mercy of God. There is none like Him. No made-made religion or god has ever exhibited such patience and compassion as the Lord, not to mention He culminated His mercy in sending Jesus Christ to die in our place to save us who disobey time and time again. Doesn’t it just make sense that our right response to such kindness would be to repent and follow Him? This is what Paul is saying when he urged his readers, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Rom 12:1) “Reasonable” in the original Greek is the word logikos, where we get “logic”. It is, then, only logical that every human being should fall at the feet of the Lord in joyful surrender and commitment to follow Him! Have you?

Posted: August 3rd, 2009 under Challenge, Devotions, Scripture.
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I actually didn’t intend on making this a two-part’r, but after I posted the earlier entry I came across this short 7 minute video from Illbehonest.com that also addresses the subject. Here’s Pastor Tim…

Posted: August 2nd, 2009 under Challenge, Devotions, Scripture.
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If you’re a TV watcher, what TV shows do you watch when it is late at night and you can’t sleep?

If you’re big on the internet, what sites do you visit when it is just you and the computer?

If you’re big on reading, what themes run through the books you curl up with? What do the articles and pictures in the magazines in your home promote?

Is who you are when traveling alone, out of town on business, consistent with who you are at home?

The same probing questions can be asked about what you listen to in the car or how you react in it when you’re running a few minutes late. The situations we find ourselves in when no one else is around to see the “real” us are many and varied. What you most honestly think of God and His Son’s instructions are manifested in your private choices.

Remember what Jesus taught us: The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light. (Luke 11:34-36)

If you have something you need to repent of in this area, do it. If you don’t, remember that it is absolutely positively only by His preventing grace that you don’t; so worship Him, thank Him, and ask Him to please help you continue to make good choices.

Posted: August 2nd, 2009 under Challenge, Devotions, Scripture.
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