Sabbath: Living for God
Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com
Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Pet. 3:8-12; Gal. 2:20; 1 Pet. 4:1-2; Rom. 6:1-11; 1 Pet. 4:3-11; 2 Sam. 11:4.
Memory Text: “For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:12, NKJV).
The Bible writers knew the reality of human sinfulness. How could they not? The world reeks of it. Besides, they knew their own sinfulness, as well (see 1 Tim. 1:15). They knew just how serious it was, too; after all, look at what it took-the cross of Jesus Christ-to solve the problem of sin. That’s how deep and pervasive the reality of sin really is.
But the Bible writers also were greatly aware of the power of Christ to change our lives and make us new people in Him.
This week, Peter continues on this same track: the kind of new life that Christians will have in Christ after they have given themselves to Him and have been baptized. In fact, the change will be so great that others will notice it. Peter doesn’t say that this change will always be easy; indeed, he talks about the need to suffer in the flesh (1 Pet. 4:1) in order to have the victory that we are promised.
Peter continues a theme that pervades the Bible, the reality of love in the life of a believer in Jesus. “Love,” he writes, “will cover a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8, NKJV). When we love, when we forgive, we are reflecting what Jesus has done and still does for us.
We need to forgive as we are forgiven
Well, actually, our forgiveness from God is conditional on our forgiveness of others for in the Lord’s Prayer He taught us to say, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us” and again Jesus says, if you don’t forgive others when they sin against you, neither will our Father forgive us!
Jesus died for us so that we may live, live not for ourselves but to live for Him, to glorify Him and by our righteous lifestyle, others would glorify Him!
For the fact that we live in a sinful world does not mean that we cannot live righteously. If Abraham and Job could live for God in an insane condition and environment, nothing stops us from doing so knowing that we have been tagged as a chosen generation, a holy people called out of darkness into His marvelous light. This nomenclature of being a royal priesthood should be a motivating factor that should spur us to react accordingly by living a pleasing and emulative lives wherever we find ourselves.
There are many in the churches today who really need to take hold of this lesson. They have forgotten that the gifts of everyone is the pleasing of God to thank Him for all they have been through. Everyone should be allowed to serve in some capacity and not be turned away!
We should always apply anything we learn, to ourselves, for we are the ones who are receiving the message 🙂
The texts 1Peter 4:3,4-6, and 2Samuel,11:,12 and 13, the account of King David and his sins, and his sons sins, show how weak in the face of forbidden desires we are. Satan is an expert in deception and our defense is found in Ephesians 6:10-20. We can not measure up to the standards given to us in Scripture by sheer human effort. The battle is not ours.
The story of King David in 2 Sam 11 is the story that freed me from my own guilt. If God could forgive David for this and call him a “man after Mine own heart”, He can certainly forgive me and begin transforming me. David was saved/forgiven from his sin but not the consequences of it.
God Himself is Love. For that reason, Love is the foundation of human’s heart. Love helps us with charity and with understanding. We can conquer all with God’s Eternal Love.