Meditations on Christian Relationships, Marriage, & Family

Day 11

1 Peter 2: 11 -12  Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Now that we realize that God has redeemed us from the insanity and corruption of this world, Peter encourages us, pleads with us,  to cease from our sinful ways, and as people who now belong to God and are no longer part of this world to see ourselves as sojourners and pilgrims. We are admonished to now live honorably among the Gentiles (the unsaved) and by our good works which all will be a witness to, cause them to glorify God when the future day of visitation comes.

May this cause us to reflect on how others do see our lives?

Day 10

1 Peter 2:9 – 10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

The apostle Peter shows in this passage the great contrast between those who reject Jesus (the Chief Cornerstone) and stumble through disobedience and disbelief of His word, and those of us who believe, and become a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We are not born as His people, but we obtain this blessed privilege through His mercy. What honor, what a sacred responsibility, we now have.

Day 9

1 Peter 2:4 – 8  Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion

A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,

And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,

“The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone,” and

“A stone of stumbling

And a rock of offense.”

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

How often do we take time to consider the magnificence of what God has done over the last couple of centuries? Laying down the life of His son Jesus as a solid and sure foundation for building His church, His house, His body… an eternal dwelling, a spiritual house, a human house, person upon person, all over the entire world. We are people chosen by God to be His holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices which God is willing to accept through Jesus Christ.   Today let’s consider just how precious He is to us, and we to Him.  What a mighty and intimately personal and loving God we have, as a master craftsman, shaping and fitting each of us together into the spiritual house in which He lives.

1 Peter 2 Daily Devotional

Day 8

1 Peter 2:  1 – 2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Peter has just exhorted us (Christians) to sincerely and fervently love one another in obedience to the new life we now have.  Love is not compatible with our natural propensity to be malicious, deceitful, hypocritical, envious, and willing to speak evil things.  Now as new born we need to desire (lust for) feeding on God’s word.

As a new born baby desires milk from his mother, new born Christians naturally hunger for the source of their life, and long for understanding God’s word.

Day 7

1Peter 1: 22 – 25

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides   forever, because

“All flesh is as grass,

And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.

The grass withers,

And its flower falls away,

25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

The power, reality and truth of the word of God is the eternal, incorruptible basis of our faith and life because it is the revelation of our eternal incorruptible Savior who lives and abides forever. His truth has given us a new birth, by the Holy Spirit. Our souls have been purified in obedience to God’s truth, through His Spirit. Now, though our flesh will whither away, our souls are incorruptible through His gospel. Now, while we are here, we have a blessed purpose in this life, which is to obey our Lord Jesus command to have the same sincere and fervent love for one another that He has shown to us. God grant that we have willing hearts!

Day 6

1 Peter 1: 17 – 21 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you  who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

We must never forget our salvation and our redemption back into the family of God was paid for by the most highly valued commodity that our heavenly Father could give us, the “precious blood of Christ” His perfect and sinless son, foreordained before the foundation of the world by God, who has raised Jesus up and given Him glory. What a sure promise and hope we have in knowing that this is totally God’s merciful and gracious work in our behalf. It is only right that we respond with awe, reverence and fear for such a mighty and wonderful heavenly Father, to whom we now have complete access to call on.

Day 5

1 Peter 1: 13- 16 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Peter is calling to us to prepare our minds (as a result of what has been revealed to us) and to be very serious, about what we now know of Jesus Christ and the grace has been given and is yet to come. He is commanding us to be obedient children of God, and to change our ways from the ignorant lustful ways of the past, and now to conduct ourselves in a holy manner, in the manner taught by Jesus, and the apostles, meaning in reverence, and purity, faultless, and free from carnality.   It is hard to imagine that God would call us to anything less, and we can be thankful that day by day He gives us the power and grace moment by moment to choose to walk after His Spirit, and conform to His holy ways.

1 Peter 1: 10 – 12  Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things which angels desire to look into.

Our salvation is not based on the testimony of Jesus and the apostles alone but on the ancient prophets who were told of the grace that would come to us by the “Spirit of Christ” who was in them, and testified before hand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  Those glories have mercifully been revealed to us and we have been allowed to enter into the resurrected life of the Lord Jesus, with the promise and hope of the incorruptible inheritance being kept for us by the Lord.  The Angels themselves are seeking to understand all of this that God is doing.  Should we not be deeply moved and excited to learn all we can of this great truth for our lives?

Day 3

1 Peter 1: 6 – 9  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not  seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of your souls.

With in the life time of Peter in the early church there were Christians who had not seen Jesus. These men and women believed the gospel message of Christ and had a genuine faith in Christ’s teachings, and the reality of His life, death, and resurrection, just as we do today because of the testimony of the apostles, and the disciples who were eye witnesses.  They lived in Jewish communities that would kill them or drive them out and under Roman rule they were being persecuted. The preciousness and genuineness of their common faith  in Jesus and ours today is what sustains us through the various trails and periods of grief that the world brings. May we not loose sight of our precious heritage in the Lord Jesus.

Day 2

1 Peter 1: 3 – 5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

How can we not have such reverence and admiration for our Creator who sent His only begotten son our Lord Jesus Christ, to mercifully offer us a new birth through His resurrection from the dead? In Jesus we have an inheritance that can’t be defiled, destroyed, or diminished because it is kept by God’s power, for those of us who believe and trust in Him.  Nothing of this world can offer us life and a future like this … only our Creator!