2 God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.May God give you more and more grace and peace.
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This is incredible to think about! God chose me long before my existence! I praise God that He has made us Holy! He has given us His spirit...without it, we wouldn't know how to live. I'm so glad that He guides me every day. I love how living a holy life, doing good and serving others is a direct result of the Spirit of God living in us! We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus...and this itself should continue to give us grace and more peace. Praise the Lord.
14-16 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
ReplyDeletePeter is calling us to live consistent lives. Before we are saved by Christ, we pursue various passions of the world which do not satisfy. But, now that we have been made righteous through the death of Christ, we should be naturally pursuing holiness as God is holy; and we should love holiness as God loves holiness. Holiness is at the very core of who God is, and the Spirit of God is in us. Therefore there is no excuse if we are followers of Christ for not pursuing with every fiber of our being holiness in our lives. Is there consistency in our lives?
We become holy as He is holy by allowing God's power and will to permeat every facet of our lives. As He gains more and more precidence in our lives, so too does His holiness. It is a natural progression, not something that we must grunt and strive in our own strength for.
The question then becomes: If holiness is not of the uttmost priority to you or I, what areas of our life are we holding back from God? If we call ourselves followers of Christ, our life is no longer our own for we were bought for a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). Therefore, God should be at the core of every thought, word, and action. If He is then we will be consumed in a pursuit of holiness.
24 For,
ReplyDelete“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”[a]
And this is the word that was preached to you.
This is really an poetic way of saying how awesome the Love God has for us is. At home in church our paster always closes his sermon with "The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stand forever" probably a different translation. This just struck me as a very beautiful section of scripture.
8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
ReplyDeleteI found this verse (along with 6 and 7) to be pretty challenging. Peter says that trials will happen, or are happening now, that will refine my faith and result in "praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ". Then comes verse 8. It's very clear that I don't see Jesus every day, and yes, I do believe in Him, but do I "greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory"?
This raises the larger question, why don't I? In verses 3-5 Peter says I have been born again. I have been set free from the chains that bound me. So why don't I recognize this more often?
I must not ever take the cross for granted, or discount the price that was paid for my sould.
16 "since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
ReplyDeleteAs Christians we are called to live like Christ. We are to follow by His example. And like this verse says, since He is holy we should also try to be holy. This applies to all aspects of our lives. In our daily speech as well as when we go out and try to spread the word of God, everything we do must be done to glorify God and we must act holy.