The Choice!

Today I started reading 1 Peter 4. I made it half way through verse 1 when God said "did you see that". No I did not hear His voice, it was within my spirit. Another one of those, "you need to know this point" lessons. So now I write. Sorry!

1 Peter 4:1

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attiude, because those who have suffered in their bodies are done with sin.

So what was the attitude of Christ during the suffering and why do I need it? Yesterday, I wrote about "Power"ful Living and how we are to live as Jesus did with a "power under" mentality (for more info on that refer to the previous post). Here Peter is telling me that I need to arm myself with Christ's attitude. Jesus did suffer in "his body". Physically he suffered tremendously but his attitude was one of great willingness to do and allow God's will in His life. He submitted his physical comfort to the work of God.

I need this attitude of submission of my physical comfort to allow verse 2 to become real.

1 Peter 4:2

As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

So, when I arm myself with His attitude of submission I end up being done with sin. And only when I am done with sin can I live for the will of God. The only way to live for His will is to give up the things I desire. I am not just speaking of stuff, I must give up how I want people to treat me. It doesn't matter how I am treated, good, bad or indifferent; I must desire God more than I desire someone to treat me well. I have to give up the desire to get my way or be "right". It doesn't matter if I am right or wrong, His will is all that matters.

In the end, I ask why does this really matter? I read further:

1 Peter 4:3

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do...

"Power"ful Living

Power is an interesting thing. I looked it up and there are 9 entries for Power. However the one I want to write about is:

possession of control, authority, or influence over others

Generally when we think about power in regards to people, this definition is what we think about. Castro has power and Obama has power they gained the power in different ways, but they have power. My boss has power, my parents have power. The police have power and even the librarian has power (you know you whisper in the library).

I don't usually think about it but I have power as well. And if I am not thinking about it I am probably using it the wrong way at times.

I am reading this book a friend let me borrow, (The Myth of a Christian Nation). I am only a couple of chapters in. The author (who shall remain nameless, because I forgot his name; now that I think about it I could look it up, but so can you, so there is your homework), writes about how power is used either over or under other. It is very enlightening.

When I think about having power over someone, my mind goes to getting them to do what I need done. After all, why have power if you can't gain from it, right? In a "power over" world that is right, but as a Christian I am called to something bigger, something better, something Christlike.

Consider the life of Jesus, He exercised power over evil and things. He ran demons out of people, he multiplied fish and bread, he turned water to wine. But, he exercised power under people. He healed their bodies, he raised them from the dead, he washed their feet, he died for them.

When Jesus was betrayed, he was captured in the garden, Peter drew his sword and cut off an ear. Jesus picked up the ear and healed the man. He exercised power under those who were going to kill Him. His example for us is clear.

So what does this have to do with how we live? I know it is obvious to you at this point, but humor me if you will. For me to live a "powerful" life I must exercise "power under" those that I influence. I must be a servant. I must consider their needs before mine. This is against my nature more than I care to acknowledge.

1 Peter 3 starts off by telling wives to submit then tells husbands to be considerate and then says to all of us in verses 8-9:

"be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit the blessing."

These things can not be done when I am exerting power "over"; I have to use all of my power "under" others, just as Jesus did!

Then and only then will I experience "power"ful living.

Cravings

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am reading 1Peter 2.

Verse 2 says, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,"

So I must do the craving? Another conscious decision! It is not natural, it is not easy and it changes me.

CRAVE: to ask for earnestly : beg , demand
to want greatly : need
to yearn for
to have a strong or inward desire

Have you ever thought about how cravings begin? Me either. But now that I am thinking about it, all the cravings I have are of things I like. A craving is a strong desire that comes from missing what I want. I have created cravings. I crave time with family, sex, good food, sports, bad food, friends and just ok food. I have many cravings. They come from enjoying things that I have tried. You can not have a craving for something you haven't tried. How could you crave chocolate if you never tried it? You couldn't!

So, when Peter tells us to "crave pure spiritual milk" what is he saying? We must crave God's Word like we craved milk when we were babies. How can I CRAVE God's word you ask? Look at verse 2 as written above, did you notice the comma at the end? That means verse 3 continues the thought.

"now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

I have to taste the Lord before I can crave Him. I have to be in His Word before I can crave it. Check this out. When children were learning the Torah (the 1st 5 books of our Bible) they read the words and then honey was put on the paper or tablet and they licked the honey from it. The purpose was for the child to see the Torah as being as sweet as honey and to crave more.

This is what Peter is telling us. I need to crave the word because it is as sweet as honey and the "perfect food" for my spirit. It never spoils.

The more I "eat" of the "perfect food" the more I want it. When I abstain from it I lose the desire for it.

So I must be in God's word to crave it, and I must stay in God's word to feed the craving. When I don't feed the craving it eventually fades away.

I have tasted the Lord and I know He is good. I crave more of Him. I pray that I will continue to feed.

Rid Yourself

Today is Communion day at NorthStar. We set aside the entire day for our congregation to come by and partake of communion. It really is a great day!

While I was sitting in the room this morning, I was reading 1 Peter 2. God brought out many things, but I have 2 I will write about today. One of them, I will not post until tomorrow.

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind.
1 Peter 2:1

When I read this, it hit me that Peter is telling me to rid myself. I know how we use the word "rid" but I have never looked at the definition. It says the following: "to make free" Interesting, so Peter is saying essentially that I am not "free" from those things.

Sometimes when people tell me things, the first thought I have is "who do you think you are." So I thought, who is he to tell me this. I know that you know who Peter is but just as a reminder. Peter is a tough guy. He is the first to speak up. He is so passionate he acts without thinking. Peter is the guys who jumps out of the boat to walk on water and then says to himself, I can't walk on water. Peter is the guy who pulls a sword and cuts off an ear. Peter is the guy who swears he will not deny but does, three times. Peter is mentally all in but not prepared for the heat. Christ corrects him each time he stumbles. He looks at him when He is denied the third time.

I am much like Peter. I spout off that "I will never." Not thinking how difficult it will be to "never."

Peter says we have to "rid ourselves". You mean I can do that? YES!! I can do that. It is a decision I have to make day-by-day, hour-by-hour and for me moment-by-moment. How? I must abstain from the sinful desires I have.

1 Peter 2:11 says, "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires."

Abstain: to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from an action or practice

I can do it!! You can do it!!

God, prompt me to abstain and rid myself!

Hand me downs?

I was reading 1 Peter this morning and saw something interesting that got me thinking. Read chapter 1:18-19.

"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."

The words that I have in bold above really jumped out at me when I read this. I don't know about you but if I am completely honest I was handed an empty way of life. There was really nothing spiritually filling about how I was raised. It was fun at times, it was rewarding at times, but it was in retrospect "empty." Obviously, I survived and I am trying to live a full life through Christ now. I thank God He redeemed me. But, I wonder what kind of life am I handing down to my future ancestors?

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."

Wow! I have a lot of responsibility. I want my children to follow a better path than I did when I was young. I want to "hand down" a better way of life to my ancestors. So how do I do this.

Verse 24 says, "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."

So if I am like grass and my glory is like the flowers, I will wither and fall, and the only thing of value that I have to HAND DOWN is that which endures forever. THE WORD OF THE LORD.

Today, and I pray everyday going forward, I will ask myself, "What of the Lord's Word are you handing down to your ancestry?"

That is a challenge!

I pray that you will have a wonderful Easter weekend, remembering what He did to redeem you.

Praying & Thanking

As I opened my Bible this morning, I somehow turned exactly to Philemon. That may not sound like such a big deal, but I have a "slimline" Bible. That means it is small and the words are even smaller. So, Philemon is on page 1106, that is it. And really only a little over half the page at that. So to turn exactly to that page is less than probable. I know whatever.

Anyway, I know that Paul starts out many of his letters by letting his reader know that he is praying and thanking God for them. His line is something like it is in Philemon, "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers..." So it occurred to me that if this is something Paul did consistently and he has many writings published, maybe it is something I should be doing.

Really, why is this a problem for me to do consistently. I have thoughts all day about people. I am sure it happens to you. I am sitting at my desk and Kelley's name will come across my mind or one of my girls (Dresden & Sierra) or someone in my Crown group or a co-worker, someone I met at the ballpark, whoever. Now that I think about it why would those names just pop into my brain while I am doing something totally unrelated? And this doesn't even count the names that come up related to what I am doing. Could it be that God is giving me those names?

Here is my problem with praying & thanking. Simply, it is my ritualistic thoughts about prayer. Its the close my eyes, bow my head, complete silence, 3 minute prayer for everything that I can think of type of prayer. If I stopped and did that every time a name popped up I would never work, or be with my family or sleep. And, God forbid, I wouldn't have time to eat.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, "pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Another letter from Paul. He says to pray continually. Give thanks. This spoke to me.

If I am to pray continually and give thanks and still work and show love to people and eat and sleep, I can't pray in my ritualistic style. These have to be prayers like, "thank you God for Kelley, protect her today," or "God, thank you for Dresden & Sierra allow them to be a light for you today," or "God grant grace and peace to Niki today." Nothing wrong with that.

I thank God for my wife, who not only is a great partner in marriage and a great mother to our kids, but she is making a difference in the lives of people at our church and in our community. I thank God for my two girls, they are very special, they love others and are leaders in their area of influence. I thank God for my friends and co-workers I can't mention them all by name here, after all, I have over 90 friends on Facebook. They have all had an impact on my life and this world. All of them love people and are striving to make a difference in our community and this world.

God thank you for giving me such incredible people to walk with as we all work toward being more like your Son and bringing the world with us.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philemon 1:3

Me, Holy?

1 Peter 1:15, "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do." I know you have heard this a million times just as I have. I know it is there, but because it sounds so lofty, so unattainable I can't imagine how I would "be holy".

So it occurred to me this morning that it may be a good idea to know what the word means. I mean, it is possible that I don't even know what Holy is and therefor I can't know if I am able to attain it. I know what you are thinking, God would not ask us to be something that we can not be. I agree! However, if I can't get my mind wrapped around it I will never be able to be it. So I need to know what it means.

If you are like me, when you hear holy in the context of God and His Word your mind goes to perfection, Jesus, loving always, things I can't be. So I need help.

I went to the old dictionary online and found holy, below are the definitions given:

1: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness
2: divine holy — Psalms 99:9(Authorized Version)>
3: devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity

I don't think God is telling us to be exalted or divine, those are His and His alone so the first two are out. Think about number 3. I believe this is what being holy is for us. Devoted entirely to Him and His work. Now what does "devoted" mean. I am glad you asked. Check this out.

1 : to commit by a solemn act <devoted herself to serving God>
2 : to give over or direct (as time, money, or effort) to a cause, enterprise, or activity

I believe we need to apply both of these definitions. First of all, we should commit ourselves to God and His work. Another word is consecrate (set yourself apart). Secondly, we must give over (time, money & effort) to THE cause.

Now before you start throwing rocks at me, I do believe that being Holy involves removing yourself from sin, striving for righteousness, and loving others. I just think that BEING holy involves more than NOT doing something, it is DOING something. It is giving time to reach out to others, giving money to meet needs and giving your talent to make the church body whole.

In short, being holy is giving our time, talent and treasure entirely to the work of God.

Now, that is something I can aspire to.