Day 63: 1 Peter 1:14

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,”



Are you obedient? I didn’t think so. We might obey in some things, but if you’re anything like me, our obedience isn’t real reliable or complete. This is sin.


Remember the verse “children, obey your parents?” It’s touched on in the ten commandments, and it’s repeated throughout the old and new testaments. Being mentioned so often, you might get the idea that it’s important, wouldn’t you?


It is. And here’s why. First, God put your parents over you to teach you and model a godly relationship for you.


Secondly, your parents represent your relationship to God. We are to obey our earthly parents just as we are to obey our heavenly father, loving and honoring them with our actions, words, and lives.


So, now that we’ve got the obedience thing out of the way, let’s look at the rest of what Peter wants to tell us today.


Peter is doing two things here. He wants to keep us on the path of obedience and he wants to remind us what disobedience looks like. He isn’t just talking here about a single incidence of disobedience, but an attitude of disobedience.


Before we had a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we were disobedient. Not just doing things wrong, but not even playing for the right team. We couldn’t be obedient to God, because sin was a part of who we were. Jesus took care of that on the cross. He died and took our wraith for us.


As Paul puts it, the old man died, and we were brought from the kingdom of sin and death to the kingdom of life and righteousness.


Peter is reminding us to be obedient, because when we aren’t obedient, we look just like we did before we came to know Christ. Remember what that was like? We were headed to hell. Our obedience to Christ further reinforces the message of the gospel for all to see: Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is the power over death and into life.


CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE: Before we were obedient to God, we were slaves to our passions and to sin. Jesus freed us from the domain of darkness. Our obedience to Him shows that and reinforces the gospel as we speak it.


Here’s a set of verses to meditate on today: Romans 5


Prayer: Father, thank you from rescuing me from the kingdom of sin and death. Help me to be obedient to you that I may be a witness for your Son’s death, burial, and resurrection. In Christ’s name, amen.